Rafael Guerrero-Sanchez v. Warden York County Prison

905 F.3d 208
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 26, 2018
Docket16-4134 & 17-1390
StatusPublished
Cited by128 cases

This text of 905 F.3d 208 (Rafael Guerrero-Sanchez v. Warden York County Prison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rafael Guerrero-Sanchez v. Warden York County Prison, 905 F.3d 208 (3d Cir. 2018).

Opinions

GREENAWAY, JR., Circuit Judge.

Rafael Guerrero-Sanchez, a native and citizen of Mexico whose original removal order was reinstated pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(5), was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") from May 2015 to February 2017 while he awaited the Immigration Court's decision on whether he would be afforded country-specific protection from removal. The District Court determined that his detention was governed by the pre-removal detention provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"), 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which affords aliens a right to a bond hearing before an immigration judge to determine if the alien's detention is necessary while he or she awaits immigration proceedings. At the hearing, the District Court determined that Guerrero-Sanchez posed neither a flight risk nor a danger to society, and therefore released him on bail after 637 days in civil confinement.

*211The Government appeals solely the District Court's determination of the source of Guerrero-Sanchez's detention, which it contends is 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a), the post-removal detention authority provision of the INA. In stark contrast to § 1226(a), the text of § 1231(a) does not explicitly authorize a bond hearing. Guerrero-Sanchez, however, contends that his detention raises constitutional concerns even under § 1231(a), and therefore that Congress implicitly intended for that provision to compel a bond hearing after prolonged detention. Thus, in Guerrero-Sanchez's estimation, he was owed a bond hearing regardless of the statutory source of his detention.

Accordingly, this case requires us to decide a novel question of immigration law in this Circuit: is the detention of an alien, such as Guerrero-Sanchez, who has a reinstated order of removal but is also pursuing withholding-only relief governed by § 1226(a) or § 1231(a) ? If the former, then such aliens are statutorily permitted to a bond hearing. But if we find that § 1231(a) controls, then we must answer a second question: does § 1231(a)(6) compel an implicit bond hearing requirement after prolonged detention?

For the reasons discussed below, we hold that § 1231(a) governs Guerrero-Sanchez's detention and that § 1231(a)(6) affords a bond hearing after prolonged detention to any alien who falls within the ambit of that provision. We will therefore affirm on alternative grounds the District Court's decision to afford Guerrero-Sanchez a bond hearing.

I. FACTS

Guerrero-Sanchez attempted to unlawfully enter the United States from Mexico on January 24, 1998 by presenting a fraudulent birth certificate. U.S. Customs and Border Protection determined that he was inadmissible for having sought admission by fraud or misrepresentation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii). An expedited order of removal was entered against him, see 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(1)(A)(i), and he was immediately removed back to Mexico.

At an unknown date thereafter, Guerrero-Sanchez reentered the United States without inspection. In April 2012, he was arrested for his role in an Idaho-based drug trafficking organization. Guerrero-Sanchez pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute more than fifty grams of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1), and he was sentenced to forty-two months of imprisonment. While Guerrero-Sanchez was serving that sentence, ICE reinstated his original order of removal from 1998, pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(5). On April 9, 2015, Guerrero-Sanchez filed before this Court a petition for review and motion for stay of the reinstated removal order, which were denied.

On May 19, 2015, the date that Guerrero-Sanchez completed his sentence, he was transferred to ICE custody pending his removal. An asylum officer subsequently conducted a reasonable-fear interview at Guerrero-Sanchez's request, see 8 C.F.R. § 241.8(e), where Guerrero-Sanchez contended that he would be tortured by a drug cartel if removed to Mexico. The officer concluded that Guerrero-Sanchez's fear of persecution was reasonable and referred the matter to an immigration judge. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.31(e).

Guerrero-Sanchez subsequently initiated withholding-only proceedings before the Immigration Court, seeking an order either withholding his removal to Mexico pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3) or, in the alternative, deferring his removal under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). The Immigration Judge denied both *212claims, finding that he was ineligible for relief under § 1231(b)(3) because he committed a "particularly serious crime," see § 1231(b)(3)(B)(ii), and that he did not qualify for CAT relief because he did "not [meet] his burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that the Mexican Government would consent to or be willfully blind to [his] hypothetical torture...." App. 120. Guerrero-Sanchez appealed the denial of his CAT claim to the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA"), which affirmed the Immigration Judge. He then petitioned this Court for review of the BIA's order, and we stayed his removal pending the disposition of his appeal.

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905 F.3d 208, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rafael-guerrero-sanchez-v-warden-york-county-prison-ca3-2018.