Najjar v. Reno

97 F. Supp. 2d 1329, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8185, 2000 WL 726358
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedMay 31, 2000
Docket99-3458-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 97 F. Supp. 2d 1329 (Najjar v. Reno) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Najjar v. Reno, 97 F. Supp. 2d 1329, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8185, 2000 WL 726358 (S.D. Fla. 2000).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS, DENYING MOTION TO STRIKE AND CLOSING THIS CASE

LENARD, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, filed December 22, 1999, and Respondents’ Answer and Motion to Dismiss the Petition, filed February 1, 2000. The parties appeared before the Court for oral argument on April 18, 2000. Having reviewed the Petition, the Government’s Answer and Motion, and the public record in this case, 1 having heard the oral arguments of the parties, and having been otherwise advised in the premises, for the reasons set forth below, the Court denies the Motion to Dismiss and grants the Petition to the extent that: (1) the bond redetermination decisions of the Immigration Judge, dated June 23, 1997, and of the Bureau of Immigration Affairs, dated September 15, 1998, are vacated; and (2) this matter is remanded to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for further proceedings consistent with this Order.

I. Factual Background

Petitioner Mazen A1 Najjar is a forty-three year-old Palestinian native of Gaza. He holds an expired Palestinian travel document issued by the Egyptian government. He first entered the United States in 1981 as a non-immigrant graduate student and began studying at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, from which he received a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering in 1984. He last entered the United States on December 8, 1984, with authorization to remain for the duration of the period of his non-immigrant graduate student status.

A. April 1985 Order to Show Cause

Petitioner’s former spouse, Jan Fairbet-ter, filed a petition for adjustment of status on his behalf with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”). (See Resp. Answer and Motion to Dismiss (“Resp.Answer”) Ex. 2 at 3.) 2 That petition was denied, and on April 19, 1985, the INS issued an order to show cause alleging that Petitioner was deportable pursuant to section 241(a)(9) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(9), 3 for failure to maintain and comply with the non-immigrant status under which he had been admitted. With the order to show cause, the INS provided: (1) notice to Petitioner that a hearing on his deportability would be held before an IJ *1333 on June 4, 1986; and (2) a warrant for his arrest. On June 4, 1986, Petitioner failed to appear at the hearing, and the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) administratively closed Petitioner’s case. Petitioner maintains that he did not appear at the hearing because he did not receive notice of the scheduled hearing until June 6, 1986, and that on June 18, 1986 he filed a request to re-open the proceedings, to which the INS did not respond.

On June 21, 1993, World and Islam Studies Enterprise (“WISE”), an organization affiliated with the University of South Florida, submitted to the INS an “Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker” requesting a change of Petitioner’s status as an alien worker. (See Resp. Answer Ex. 2 at 1.) This petition stated that, as Chief Executive Officer of WISE, Petitioner “[o]ver-sees and directs all research, publishing and educational activities of the institution [and][d]irects all fund-raising and financial aspects of the non-profit corporation,” for which he received an annual salary of $ 32,400.00. (Id. at 2.) In 1993, the INS granted this petition and reclassified Petitioner as a “member of professions with advanced degree or of exceptional ability,” pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 203(b)(2) (1992). (Id. at 1.)

B. February 1996 Deportation Hearing

The INS eventually re-calendared Petitioner’s case for a deportation hearing on February 8, 1996. At this hearing, Petitioner conceded his deportability on the ground that he had overstayed his non-immigrant student visa in violation of INA § 241(a)(9) and sought discretionary relief from deportation, including suspension of deportation, asylum and withholding of removal. On May 13, 1997, IJ J. Daniel Dowell issued a written decision and order, (the “IJ’s Deportation Decision”) (Petition Ex. C), finding Petitioner deportable as charged and denying his applications for discretionary relief. At the time, Petitioner maintained that he was stateless, declined to designate a country of deportation, and did not request voluntary departure. The IJ therefore designated United Arab Emirates as Petitioner’s country of deportation. Petitioner filed an appeal of the IJ’s Deportation Decision with the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”).

C. Petitioner Is Taken into INS Custody-

On May 19, 1997, pending the appeal to the BIA, the INS District Director took Petitioner into custody and detained him without bond. Petitioner requested a re-determination of his custody status pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 242.2(d) (1995). On May 28, 1997, the INS served Petitioner with a notice of its intent to present classified information in an in camera proceeding in support of its custody determination. (See Petition Ex. E at 1.) On May 29, 1997, IJ R. Kevin McHugh held a bond redetermi-nation hearing at which Petitioner presented several witnesses and evidence of his employment history and strong community and family ties. Federal Bureau of Investigations Special Agent West also testified at the hearing that Petitioner was a member of WISE, an organization known to support the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (“PIJ”), 4 and that there was an on-going multi-agency investigation into Petitioner’s involvement in visa fraud, voter fraud, support to known terrorist organizations, and a sham marriage. On the same day, the IJ held an ex parte in camera hearing to receive classified information from the INS regarding Petitioner’s connection with the PIJ. Neither Petitioner nor his counsel were present at this hearing and no record of the in camera proceeding was made. On June 2, 1997, the IJ provided Petitioner with an unclassified summary of the classified information, which stated: “This Court was provided with information as to *1334 the association of [Petitioner] with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” (See Petition Ex. F at 1.)

On June 6, 1997, the IJ re-opened the public portion of the bond redetermination hearing, and Petitioner presented witnesses in rebuttal to the unclassified summary of the classified information. Dr. Louis Cantori testified that he was an advisory editor of a journal for which Petitioner was the managing editor and that he (Dr. Cantori) had attended two conferences sponsored by WISE. Dr.

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Related

Al Najjar v. Ashcroft
186 F. Supp. 2d 1235 (S.D. Florida, 2002)
Mazen Al Najjar v. John Ashcroft
273 F.3d 1330 (Eleventh Circuit, 2001)
Fedaa Al Najjar v. John Ashcroft
257 F.3d 1262 (Eleventh Circuit, 2001)
Zigmund v. Foster
106 F. Supp. 2d 352 (D. Connecticut, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
97 F. Supp. 2d 1329, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8185, 2000 WL 726358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/najjar-v-reno-flsd-2000.