Perez v. Decker

355 F. Supp. 3d 185
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 14, 2019
Docket1:19-cv-1327-GHW
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 355 F. Supp. 3d 185 (Perez v. Decker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perez v. Decker, 355 F. Supp. 3d 185 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

GREGORY H. WOODS, United States District Judge:

Petitioner Antonio Ramos Perez brings this petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Petitioner is currently detained at the Hudson County Jail in Kearny, New Jersey, which is located in the judicial district of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. See 28 U.S.C. § 110.

*187Petitioner has named as respondents the Field Office Director of the New York Field Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), the Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the acting United States Attorney General. The petitioner is detained in New Jersey and filed this petition while in detention in New Jersey. He nevertheless alleges that this Court has jurisdiction over the petition because "a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to Petitioner's habeas claims have occurred within this district." Dkt. No. 1 at 7. These events, Petitioner claims, include, his transfer from custody under the Office of Refugee Resettlement (the "ORR") in Lincolndale, New York to ICE custody, his questioning by ICE officers in Manhattan, Respondents' decision, allegedly made in New York, to detain him at the Hudson County Jail, and Petitioner's pending removal proceedings, which will occur in an immigration court located within this District. Id. at 7-8, 10.

"In accord with the ... immediate custodian rule, longstanding practice confirms that in habeas challenges to present physical confinement-'core challenges'-the default rule is that the proper respondent is the warden of the facility where the prisoner is being held, not the Attorney General or some other remote supervisory official." Rumsfeld v. Padilla , 542 U.S. 426, 435, 124 S.Ct. 2711, 159 L.Ed.2d 513 (2004). The "plain language" of 28 U.S.C. § 2241, the habeas statute under which petitioner is suing, "confirms the general rule that for core habeas petitions challenging present physical confinement, jurisdiction lies in only one district: the district of confinement." Id. at 443, 124 S.Ct. 2711.

The present petition falls under this category of "core" habeas petitions because "it is at bottom a simple challenge to physical custody imposed by the Executive." Id. at 441, 124 S.Ct. 2711. Petitioner argues that he must be released from custody because his detention "violates the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Dkt. No. 1 at 3. The specific relief Petitioner seeks is "a Writ of Habeas Corpus ordering [that] he be given an immediate custody hearing before an impartial adjudicator in which he must be released, unless DHS proves by clear and convincing evidence that he presents a flight risk or a danger to the community." Id. Accordingly, Petitioner's habeas petition challenges his present physical confinement and thus, jurisdiction lies only in the district where he is physically confined. See Bacuku v. Shanahan , No. 16-cv-305 (LGS), 2016 WL 1162330, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 1, 2016) (transferring habeas petition challenging current detention by ICE to the District of New Jersey, sua sponte , because "with the exception of his appearances in the New York Immigration Court," petitioner "is normally detained in New Jersey at the Hudson County Correctional Facility," making the District of New Jersey his "district of confinement"); Phrance v. Johnson , No. 14-cv-3569 (TPG), 2014 WL 6807590, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 3, 2014) (applying the "immediate custodian rule" to habeas petition challenging confinement and granting motion to transfer case to District of New Jersey).

The Court recognizes that judges in this District have found that a court can exercise jurisdiction over a habeas claim based on a petitioner's transitory presence in the district at the time that the petition was filed. See, e.g., *188Richardson v. Shanahan , No. 15 CIV. 4405 (AJP), 2015 WL 5813330, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 2015) ; Young v. Aviles , 99 F.Supp.3d 443, 446, n. 2 (S.D.N.Y. 2015) ("[J]urisdiction and venue are proper, as Young was present in this District at the time that the petition was actually filed."); Richardson v. Shanahan , No. 15 CIV. 4405 AJP, 2015 WL 5813330, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 2015) ; Khemlal v. Shanahan , No. 14 CIV. 5186 AJP, 2014 WL 5020596, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 8, 2014) ; Mendoza v. Muller , No. 11 Civ. 7857 (RJS), 2012 WL 252188, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Jan.

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Bluebook (online)
355 F. Supp. 3d 185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perez-v-decker-ilsd-2019.