Singh v. United States Department of Homeland Security

• Court: District Court, N.D. Texas
• Decided: February 21, 2020
• Docket: 3:20-cv-00448
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 The Honorable Richard A. Jones

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 AT SEATTLE

8 ARSHDEEP SINGH,

9 Petitioner, Case No. C20-244-RAJ-MLP

10 v. ORDER TRANSFERRING CASE 11 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al. 12 Respondents. 13

14 Petitioner Arshdeep Singh is a native and citizen of India who is currently detained by U.S. 15 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) at the Prairieland Detention Center (“PDC”) in 16 Alvarado, Texas, where he is being staged for a charter removal flight to India. (Dkt. 10, ¶ 5.) On 17 February 18, 2020, Mr. Singh, proceeding through counsel, filed in this Court a petition for writ 18 of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 together with a motion for temporary restraining order 19 seeking an immediate stay of removal. (See Dkts. 1, 2.) Petitioner, who crossed the U.S. border 20 from rural Mexico in September 2019, challenges in his petition the determination of an asylum 21 officer, subsequently upheld by an immigration judge, that petitioner should not be allowed to 22 apply for asylum in the United States because of a negative credible fear finding. (See Dkt. 1, 9.) 23

ORDER TRANSFERRING CASE 1 Because petitioner’s original materials lacked necessary details, in particular those relevant 2 to the question of whether this Court has jurisdiction over this matter, the Court deferred ruling on 3 the motion for temporary restraining order and directed petitioner to submit a supplemental brief 4 addressing the jurisdictional issue and the anticipated timing of petitioner’s removal. (Dkt. 8.) On

5 February 20, 2020, respondents filed a response to petitioner’s motion for temporary restraining 6 order in which they argued that the motion should be denied because this Court lacks jurisdiction 7 to provide the habeas relief requested. (See Dkt. 9, 10, 11.) On February 21, 2020, petitioner filed 8 a supplemental brief in support of his request for an emergency temporary restraining order 9 addressing the issues identified in the Court’s prior Order. (Dkt. 14.) A review of those materials, 10 and the materials submitted by respondent, clearly establish that petitioner is not now, nor has he 11 ever been, confined in this District nor have any of his ICE proceedings been conducted in this 12 District. 13 Federal courts may grant writs of habeas corpus only “within their respective jurisdictions.”

14 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a). Although physical presence of a habeas petitioner within the judicial district 15 “is not an absolute jurisdictional prerequisite, but rather a requirement [that] can give way to 16 considerations of fairness and basic convenience,” see Kinnell v. Warner, 356 F. Supp. 779, 781 17 (D. Haw. 1973), the Court may not grant habeas relief if the petitioner’s custodian is outside its 18 territorial jurisdiction. See Sholars v. Matter, 491 F.2d 279, 281 & n. 5 (9th Cir. 1974). This Court 19 lacks jurisdiction because neither the petitioner, nor his custodian, i.e.. the custodian of the PDC, 20 are within the boundaries of this District. 21 Accordingly, this Court hereby ORDERS as follows: 22 (1) Petitioner’s motion for temporary restraining order (Dkt. 2) is DENIED without 23 prejudice to petitioner renewing his motion in the proper jurisdiction.

ORDER TRANSFERRING CASE 1 (2) This action is TRANSFERRED to the Northern District of Texas. See Miller v. 2 Hambrick, 905 F.2d 259 (9th Cir. 1990); see also, 28 U.S.C. § 1631. 3 (3) The Clerk shall send copies of this Order to all counsel of record and to 4 the assigned Magistrate Judge.

5 DATED this 21st day of February, 2020. 6 A 7 8 The Honorable Richard A. Jones United States District Judge 9

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ORDER TRANSFERRING CASE