Decisions

6th Cir. December 20, 2018 912 F.3d 869 Third country: None (removal to country of origin)

Reversing, the court held that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) deprived the District Court of jurisdiction over the removal-based claims and that § 1252(f)(1) barred the class-wide injunction on the detention-based claims. It vacated both preliminary injunctions and remanded with directions to dismiss the removal-based claims. Judge White dissented, and would have held that the District Court had jurisdiction. The panel described the case as arising from “the government’s efforts to execute long-standing final removal orders of Iraqi nationals that the United States had, for many years, been unable to execute.”

Jurisdiction stripping Section 1252(g) Section 1252(f)(1) Class-wide injunctive relief Suspension Clause Habeas Preliminary injunction vacated Contrary authority

Caution Contrary authority, and controlling in the Sixth Circuit. It vacated the 24 July 2017 injunction recorded separately in this collection. The panel ruled on jurisdiction and on the form of relief; the lawfulness of the removals themselves, and the process due before an order of supervision is revoked, were not before it. The opinion was first filed unpublished on 20 December 2018 and designated for full-text publication the following day, which is why some sources date it 21 December.

E.D. Mich. July 24, 2017 261 F. Supp. 3d 820 Third country: None (removal to country of origin)

The court granted a class-wide preliminary injunction halting removals to Iraq until class members could seek relief in the immigration courts. Its account of what had happened: “Without warning, over 1,400 Iraqi nationals discovered that their removal orders — many of which had lain dormant for several years — were now to be immediately enforced, following an agreement reached between the United States and Iraq to facilitate removal.” One named petitioner had been living in her community under a final order of removal since 1986. The court found that the resulting search for counsel had been “significantly impeded by the Government’s successive transfers of many detainees across the country, separating them from their lawyers and the families and communities who can assist in those legal efforts,” and that people who had lived peaceably for years under limited supervision had had little reason to incur the cost of a motion to reopen before the policy changed. Rejecting the government’s position that only the immigration courts could act, it held that “a federal district court is armed with jurisdiction to act as a first responder to protect the writ of habeas corpus and the allied right to due process,” so that people facing grave harm are not removed before having their day in court.

Mass redetention Long-dormant removal orders Bilateral repatriation agreement Habeas jurisdiction Suspension Clause Due process Motions to reopen Transfer of detainees Class action Preliminary injunction

Caution Vacated. The Sixth Circuit held on 20 December 2018 that the District Court had no jurisdiction to enter either injunction and remanded with directions to dismiss the removal-based claims. The Sixth Circuit did not disturb the findings of fact recorded here, which is why they are kept in this collection. Removal was to the class members’ country of origin, not to a third country.