Justia Immigration Law Opinion Summaries

Petitioner, a lawful permanent resident (LPR), and citizen of the Dominican Republic, was convicted of drug related offenses, sentenced to probation, and taken into custody by ICE agents pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1226(c). Petitioner then sought habeas relief, contending that he was eligible to apply for bail because the mandatory detention provision of section 1226(c) did not apply to him because he had not been taken into custody “when released” and that indefinite incarceration without an opportunity to apply for bail violated his right to due process. The district court granted the petition. The court deferred to the BIA's interpretation that detention need not be immediate in order to be mandatory. The court held, however, that to avoid the constitutional concerns raised by indefinite detention, an immigrant detained pursuant to section 1226(c) must be afforded a bail hearing before an immigration judge within six months of his or her detention. Following the Ninth Circuit, the court also held that the detainee must be admitted to bail unless the government establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the immigrant poses a risk of flight or a risk of danger to the community. In this case, petitioner is neither a risk of flight nor dangerous where he is the primary caretaker of his two-year-old son who was placed in foster care while petitioner was in detention, he has no arrest record, and he has been gainfully employed for over two decades. The court affirmed the judgment. View "Lora v. Shanahan" on Justia Law

Petitioner, a native and citizen of Yemen, seeks review of the BIA's decision affirming the IJ's finding of removeability based on procurement of admission through fraud and denial of petitioner's request for a waiver of inadmissibility. The BIA determined that the government had demonstrated petitioner’s removability by clear and convincing evidence because petitioner, who was admitted to the United States as an unmarried son of a United States citizen, was married at the time of his admission. The court granted the petition for review because the BIA failed to consider petitioner's marriage certificate, which stated that he first married five years after his admission. The court also concluded that the BIA erred when it applied the standards for determining credibility articulated in the REAL ID Act, INA 208(b)(1)(B)(iii), 8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(B)(iii), to assess petitioner’s testimony concerning his removability. On remand, the BIA is instructed to articulate the standard it applies when assessing the credibility of an individual who testifies on matters concerning removability in a contested removal proceeding. View "Ahmed v. Lynch" on Justia Law