PRECEDENTIAL

ICO-005E

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

_____________

No. 20-1784

_____________

AARON HOPE; IWAN RAHARDJA; JESUS DE LA PENA; 

RAKIBU ADAM; DUC VIET LAM; YELENA MUKHINA;

NAHOM GEBRETNISAE; ISMAIL MUHAMMED; 

GLENN WEITHERS; KONSTANTIN BUGARENKO; 

BRISIO BALDERAS-DOMINGUEZ; VIVIANA 

CEBALLOS; WILDERS PAUL; MARCOS JAVIER ORTIZ 

MATOS; ALEXANDER ALVARENGA; ARMANDO 

AVECILLA; COSWIN RICARDO MURRAY; EDWIN 

LUIS CRISOSTOMO RODRIGUEZ; ELDON BERNARD 

BRIETTE; DEMBO SANNOH; JESUS ANGEL JUAREZ 

PANTOJA; ALGER FRANCOIS

v.

WARDEN YORK COUNTY PRISON; WARDEN PIKE 

COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY; 

DIRECTOR PHILADELPHIA FIELD OFFICE 

IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; 

DIRECTOR UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION AND 

CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; 

SECRETARY UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 

HOMELAND SECURITY,

 Appellants 
2

____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

(D.C. No. 1-20-cv-00562)

District Judge: The Honorable John E. Jones, III

______________________________________

Argued June 18, 2020

Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, HARDIMAN and SCIRICA, 

Circuit Judges.1

(Opinion filed: August 25, 2020)

David Byerley

United States Department of Justice

Office of Immigration Litigation

P.O. Box 868

Ben Franklin Station

Washington, DC 20044

Jeffrey S. Robins

United States Department of Justice

Office of Immigration Litigation

Room 6040

P.O. Box 878

Washington, DC 20044

Scott G. Stewart [Argued]

United States Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

1

Judge Shwartz is recused from this proceeding.
3

Washington, DC 20530

Counsel for Appellants

Lawrence J. Joseph

Suite 700-1A

1250 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 200

Counsel for Amicus Immigration Reform Institute in 

favor of Appellants

Eunice H. Cho

David C. Fathi

American Civil Liberties Union

915 15th St., N.W.

6th Floor

Washington, DC 20003

Carla G. Graff

Kelly A. Krellner

Dechert

2929 Arch Street

18th Floor, Cira Centre

Philadelphia, PA 19104

Stephen B. Kang

Cecillia D. Wang

American Civil Liberties Union Foundation

39 Drumm Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

Erika B. Nyborg-Burch

Vanessa Stine

Muneeda S. Talukder
4

American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania

P.O. Box 60173

Philadelphia, PA 19106

Witold J. Walczak, Esq. [Argued]

American Civil Liberties Union 

P.O. Box 23058

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Counsel for Appellees

Kristin A. Macleod-Ball

American Immigration Counsel

1318 Beacon Street

Suite 18

Brookline, MA 02446

Counsel for Amicus American Immigration Council in 

favor of Appellees

Susanna M. Buergel

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison

1285 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10019

Counsel for Amicus Robert L. Cohen, M.D., Joe 

Goldenson, M.D., Michael Puisis, D.O., and Brie 

Williams, M.D., M.S., in favor of Appellees

_________

OPINION OF THE COURT

_________
5

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.

On April 7, 2020, the United States District Court for 

the Middle District of Pennsylvania ordered the immediate 

release of twenty-two immigration detainees (collectively, 

Petitioners) from the York County Prison (York) and Pike 

County Correctional Facility (Pike) amidst the COVID-192

pandemic. It did so ex parte, by granting Petitioners’ motion 

for temporary restraining order (TRO) without affording the 

Government an opportunity to be heard. After staying its April 

7, 2020 order, the District Court again mandated Petitioners’ 

release on April 10, 2020. The Government appealed both 

orders. As we explained in Hope v. Warden York County 

Prison, 956 F.3d 156, 161–62 (3d Cir. 2020) (Hope I), the 

District Court’s orders—which purported to be TROs—were 

in effect mandatory preliminary injunctions. Having 

determined in Hope I that we have jurisdiction, we now 

consider the merits of the Government’s appeal.

I

This case followed closely on the heels of a similar one

decided by the District Court. See Thakker v. Doll, — F. Supp.

3d —, 2020 WL 1671563 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 31, 2020). In 

Thakker, immigration detainees sought release from their 

detention in York, Pike, and a third facility. The District Court 

held the detainees were likely to succeed on their claim that 

their detention deprived them of substantive due process

2 COVID-19 “is a highly contagious respiratory virus 

that poses unique risks in population-dense facilities.” Hope v. 

Warden York Cnty. Prison, 956 F.3d 156, 157 n.2 (3d Cir. 

2020) (Hope I) (quoting United States v. Raia, 954 F.3d 594, 

595–96 (3d Cir. 2020)).
6

because of their advanced ages and medical histories. Id. at *9. 

So it ordered their release.

Three days after the District Court issued its order in 

Thakker, Petitioners filed their “Verified Petition for Writ of 

Habeas Corpus and Complaint for Emergency Injunctive 

Relief” seeking release from custody and alleging they were at 

risk of serious harm from COVID-19 while detained at York 

and Pike. They filed a joint habeas petition even though they:

(1) vary in age from 28 to 69, with only one of them older than

65; (2) have divergent health conditions; (3) were detained for 

various reasons; (4) have unique criminal histories; (5) have 

individual flight risk profiles; and (6) have diverse home and 

family situations. Despite those distinguishing characteristics, 

the petition alleged they are “united by the fact that they are 

over age 65 and/or adults who have a serious pre-existing 

medical condition” and that “the United States Centers for 

Disease Control has determined [their conditions] put[] them 

at significantly higher risk of severe disease and death if they 

contract COVID-19.” App. 28. The petition further averred 

that conditions at York and Pike place Petitioners at higher risk 

to contract COVID-19 because “risk mitigation is impossible” 

there. App. 79. They claimed their confinement deprives them 

of substantive due process because it constitutes punishment 

and because Respondents are deliberately indifferent to their 

serious medical needs. According to Petitioners, only release 

will rectify their unconstitutional confinement.

Petitioners provided a general description of their health 

conditions and little detail about their immigration 

circumstances. The petition stated that some are lawful 

permanent residents, while others seek adjustment of status 

through an ill spouse or because they have lived in this country 

since they were children. The petition described the criminal 
7

records and histories for very few of the Petitioners and did so

summarily. Federal law required some to be detained while 

others were detained at the discretion of the Secretary of the 

Department of Homeland Security or an immigration judge. 

See 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), (c); and 8 C.F.R. §§ 1003.19, 

1236.1(c); see also Nielsen v. Preap, 139 S. Ct. 954, 958–59 

(2019).

The petition was accompanied by a motion for TRO, but 

Petitioners did not request ex parte relief. In fact, they emailed 

their filings to counsel for the Government and asked the Court

to “immediately schedule a hearing.” App. 86. Even though

Petitioners’ counsel promptly (and appropriately) engaged 

opposing counsel in the adversary process, the District Court

entered its April 7 order ex parte without a hearing, relying 

heavily on its prior findings and decision in Thakker.

The April 7 order commanded the Government to 

immediately release Petitioners “on their own recognizance.”

App. 14. It also required Petitioners to self-quarantine for 

fourteen days after their release. Id. The terms of the injunction 

were to expire on April 20, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Id. Finally, the

Court ordered the Government—from which it had not yet 

heard—to show cause “why the [order] should not be 

converted into a preliminary injunction.” Id.

Less than five hours after the April 7 ex parte order was 

entered on the docket, the Government entered its appearance, 

filed a motion to stay the immediate release order, and sought 

reconsideration based on the declaration of Assistant Field 

Office Director Joseph Dunn. The District Court granted a 

temporary stay of its ex parte order and ordered Petitioners to 

respond to the motion for reconsideration, which they did on 

April 8. That same day, the Government responded to the
8

petition and motion for TRO. Also on April 8, the Court 

scheduled a status conference for April 9, which it apparently 

held off the record. On April 10, the Government filed another

declaration of Director Dunn.

Later on April 10, and again without holding a hearing 

and without discussing the Government’s response in

opposition to Petitioners’ filings, the District Court entered an 

order: (1) denying reconsideration of its April 7 order; (2) 

lifting the temporary stay; and (3) reiterating the relief

provided by the April 7 order, again mandating the release of 

Petitioners that day. App. 20–21. Like the April 7 order, the 

April 10 order instructed Petitioners to self-quarantine for 

fourteen days after their release. App. 21.

3

The April 10 order purported to expire on April 20, 

2020, but contradicted itself in two ways. It extended the

“release period . . . until such time as the COVID-19 state of 

emergency as declared by the Governor of the Commonwealth 

of Pennsylvania is lifted, or by further Order of this Court.” Id. 

at 21. And it terminated the release period “immediately if a 

Petitioner absconds.” Id.

The April 10 order also imposed new conditions on 

both parties, stating:

a. This Order requires Petitioners to comply 

with all Executive Orders . . . as well as 

national, state and local guidance 

3 The Government agreed to the release of Duc Viet 

Lam and Iwan Rajardja, so they were not included in the 

District Court’s second release order.
9

regarding staying at home, sheltering in 

place, and social distancing;

b. This Order does not prevent the 

government from taking Petitioners back 

into custody should they commit any 

further crimes or otherwise violate the 

terms of their release;

c. The Petitioners shall report their 

whereabouts once per week to their 

attorneys, who in turn shall report to the 

Respondents if a Petitioner has 

absconded;

d. The Petitioners must appear at all 

hearings pertaining to their removal 

proceedings, and in the event that they are 

subject to a final order of deportation for 

which arrangements have been finalized 

within the period of this Order, they shall 

fully comply with the said order of 

deportation and all instructions pertaining 

thereto; and

e. Respondents may impose other 

reasonable nonconfinement terms of 

supervision that would not require 

Petitioners to violate national, state and 

local guidance regarding staying at home, 

sheltering in place, and social distancing.

App. 21–22 (emphases added).

The Government timely appealed the April 7 and April 

10 orders.
10

II

The District Court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1331. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1).

Hope I, 956 F.3d at 159 n.5, 162.

III

We review the District Court’s orders under the 

standard of review for preliminary injunctions because they

granted preliminary injunctive relief within the meaning of 28 

U.S.C. § 1291(a)(1). See Hope I, 956 F.3d at 162. Rule 65 of 

the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure imposes preconditions on 

the issuance of injunctions, including TROs. For an injunction 

to issue:

the plaintiffs had to demonstrate (1) that they are 

reasonably likely to prevail eventually in the 

litigation and (2) that they are likely to suffer 

irreparable injury without relief. If these two 

threshold showings are made the District Court 

then considers, to the extent relevant, (3) whether 

an injunction would harm the [defendants] more 

than denying relief would harm the plaintiffs and 

(4) whether granting relief would serve the 

public interest.

K.A. ex rel. Ayers v. Pocono Mountain Sch. Dist., 710 F.3d 99, 

105 (3d Cir. 2013) (internal quotations and citations omitted).

Because the Court granted a mandatory injunction, a

heightened standard applies. Bennington Foods, LLC v. St. 

Croix Renaissance Grp., LLP, 528 F.3d 176, 179 (3d Cir. 

2008). So Petitioners bore a “particularly heavy” burden,

Acierno v. New Castle Cnty., 40 F.3d 645, 653 (3d Cir. 1994),
11

requiring them to show a substantial likelihood of success on 

the merits and that their “right to relief [is] indisputably clear,” 

Trinity Indus., Inc. v. Chi. Bridge & Iron Co., 735 F.3d 131, 

139 (3d Cir. 2013) (quoting Communist Party of Ind. v. 

Witcomb, 409 U.S. 1235, 1235 (1972)).

We review the District Court’s findings of fact for clear 

error, its legal conclusions de novo, and its decision to grant 

injunctive relief for abuse of discretion. See K.A. ex rel. Ayers, 

710 F.3d at 105. An abuse of discretion exists when the 

decision rests “on an erroneous view of the law or on a clearly 

erroneous assessment of the evidence,” Cooter & Gell v. 

Hartmax Corp., 496 U.S. 384, 405 (1990), which includes an 

improper application of the correct law to the facts, United 

States v. Reyes-Romero, 959 F.3d 80, 92 (3d Cir. 2020). Clear 

error exists “when although there is evidence to support it, the 

reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite 

and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” 

United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395 (1948).

IV

With the legal framework just described in mind, we 

begin with the Government’s procedural challenges. It 

contends the District Court erred by granting relief ex parte.

The Government also claims the District Court erred when the 

Court absolved Petitioners of their duty to show entitlement to 

injunctive relief by ordering the Government to show cause 
12

why the Petitioners were not entitled to a mandatory injunction

and by applying reconsideration standards.

A

“As the Supreme Court has observed, ‘our entire 

jurisprudence runs counter to the notion of court action taken 

before reasonable notice and an opportunity to be heard has 

been granted [to] both sides of a dispute.’” Hope I, 956 F.3d at 

160 (quoting Granny Goose Foods Inc. v. Bhd. of Teamsters, 

415 U.S. 423, 439 (1974)). And the Court has described due 

process in this way:

Parties whose rights are to be affected are 

entitled to be heard; and in order that they may 

enjoy that right they must first be notified. It is 

equally fundamental that the right to notice and 

an opportunity to be heard must be granted at a 

meaningful time and in a meaningful manner.

Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 80 (1972) (internal quotations

and citations omitted). 

Despite these principles, a TRO may be entered ex 

parte, but only if safeguards in Rule 65(b) are met. For 

example, Rule 65(b)(3) requires an expedited preliminary 

injunction hearing after an ex parte TRO is entered. And a

court may not convert an ex parte TRO into a preliminary 

injunction without a hearing or issue an ex parte preliminary 

injunction. See Granny Goose, 415 U.S. at 439 & n.14 (Rule 

65(b)’s stringent requirements restrict ex parte TRO’s to 
13

“preserving the status quo” and “preventing irreparable harm” 

only for the time “necessary to hold a hearing, and no longer”).

Although Petitioners stated their prayer for relief 

alternatively as a request for a TRO or for a preliminary 

injunction, they never sought ex parte relief and their counsel 

advised the Court that they promptly served the Government. 

Accordingly, Petitioners’ counsel did not include a Rule 

65(b)(1)(B) certification required for ex parte relief. The Court

failed to explain why the order had to issue without affording 

the Government an opportunity to be heard, in violation of 

Rule 65(b)(2). And it did so even though Petitioners requested 

a hearing and counsel for Respondents were well known to the 

Court from their involvement in the Thakker case.4 All this was 

contrary to law.

B

The District Court’s initial failure to include the 

Government in the proceedings created problems downstream

when it issued the April 10 order. Instead of acknowledging 

the Government’s substantive response to the petition and 

motion consistent with the prerequisites for issuing injunctive 

relief, the Court not only shifted the burden to the Government, 

but also required it to surmount the high hurdle applicable to a 

4 The Respondents in Thakker and Hope are identical 

except for one party (Clinton County). Each Respondent in 

Hope is represented by the same counsel from Thakker and the 

same attorney entered her appearance on behalf of the 

Respondent detention facilities involved in both actions. 

Compare Thakker v. Doll, M.D. Pa. Docket No. 1:20-cv00480, with Hope v. Doll, M.D. Pa. Docket No. 1:20-cv-00562. 
14

motion for reconsideration. Hope I, 956 F.3d at 162. Petitioners 

counter that the Government invited the error by filing its 

reconsideration motion. We disagree.

The District Court turned due process on its head when 

it required the party against whom it ordered injunctive relief 

to prove why such relief should not be continued. See Gonzales 

v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 

418, 429 (2006) (“The point remains that the burdens at the 

preliminary injunction stage track the burdens at trial.”); see 

also FED. R. CIV. P. 65(b)(3) (in expediting preliminary 

injunction hearing held after TRO issues “the party who 

obtained the order must proceed with the motion”). The burden 

to prove clear entitlement to injunctive relief always stays with 

the party requesting that relief. So the District Court erred 

when its April 10 order required the Government to show: (1) 

new evidence before it was ever afforded the chance to present 

any evidence before the April 7 order was issued; (2) a change 

in the law before it was allowed to brief the Court; and (3) the 

need to correct a clear error of law or prevent manifest 

injustice. App. 18 (citing Max’s Seafood Café by Lou Ann, Inc. 

v. Quinteros, 176 F.3d 669, 677 (3d Cir. 1999)). For these 

reasons, we hold that the District Court abused its discretion 

when it applied reconsideration standards to issue the April 10 

order.

C

The April 10 order violates other provisions of Rule 65. 

It mandates Petitioners’ release until the Governor of 

Pennsylvania lifts the state of emergency or the Court orders 

otherwise, while purporting to expire on April 20, 2020. The 

contingent nature of the Governor’s state of emergency 

rendered the order indefinite contrary to the fourteen-day time 
15

limit in Rule 65(b)(2). See Hope I, 956 F.3d at 162. And it also 

rendered the provision indeterminate in violation of the 

specification requirements of Rule 65(d).

Rule 65(d) provides that “[e]very order granting an 

injunction and every restraining order must state its terms 

specifically” and “describe in reasonable detail . . . the act or 

acts restrained or required.” FED. R. CIV. P. 65(d)(1)(B) & (C)

(emphasis added). These requirements are not mere 

technicalities. They “relate[] to the court’s awesome civil and 

criminal contempt powers. Persons may not be placed at risk 

of contempt unless they have been given specific notice of the 

norm to which they must pattern their conduct.” Inmates of 

Allegheny Cnty. Jail v. Wecht, 754 F.2d 120, 129 (3d Cir. 1985)

(citations omitted). We recognize that temporary and

preliminary injunctive relief orders issue in the context of 

“exigent circumstances and at times may lack the precision of 

final decrees.” Ideal Toy Corp. v. Plawner Toy Mfg. Corp., 685 

F.2d 78, 84 (3d Cir. 1982). But “Rule 65(d) was designed to 

prevent uncertainty and confusion on the part of those faced 

with injunctive orders, and to avoid the possible founding of a 

contempt citation on a decree too vague to be understood.” 

Schmidt v. Lessard, 414 U.S. 473, 476 (1974). In short, a party

must “receive fair and precisely drawn notice of what the 

injunction actually prohibits [or requires].” Granny Goose, 415 

U.S. at 444.

Other terms of the District Court’s April 7 and 10 orders 

are too indefinite to satisfy Rule 65(d). Under that subsection,

an injunction “should be phrased in terms of objective actions, 

not legal conclusions.” United States v. Askins & Miller 

Orthopaedics, P.A., 924 F.3d 1348, 1362 (11th Cir. 2019) 

(internal quotations and citations omitted). The April 10 order 

permits the Government to impose “reasonable 
16

nonconfinement terms of supervision.” App. 22. But 

“reasonable” is capacious enough to provoke disagreement 

between Petitioners and the Government regarding the 

propriety of any additional terms of supervision. The order also 

permits the Government to re-detain Petitioners if “they 

commit any further crimes” or “violate the terms of their

release.” App. 21. That provision raises more questions than it 

answers, however. Do “further crimes” include traffic 

violations? We doubt that was the District Court’s intention.

Perhaps the Court meant only felonies? But Petitioners could 

“violate the terms of their release” without committing any 

crime at all. So the April 10 order is not just vague, it is also 

over- and under-inclusive. The Government would be acting at 

its peril if it were to re-detain Petitioners.

The April 7 and April 10 orders also require affirmative 

acts by Petitioners, subject to contempt and re-detention if they 

fail to comply. Both orders mandate self-quarantine without 

explaining what that entails. The April 10 order requires 

Petitioners “to comply with all . . . national, state and local 

guidance regarding staying at home, sheltering in place, and 

social distancing,” id., but does not specify what constitutes 

“guidance.” It also compels Petitioners to report their 

whereabouts to their counsel, who in turn are required to report

absconsion. App. 21–22. Must counsel report only known 

absconsion? What about likely absconsion or a failure to report

each week? The lack of specificity as to affirmative acts 

required by Petitioners and their counsel in the order also

contravenes Rule 65(d).

Finally, the District Court failed to order bond. Under 

Rule 65(c), the absence of a bond precludes issuance of an 

injunction. See Zambelli Fireworks Mfg. Co. v. Wood, 592 F.3d 

412, 426 (3d Cir. 2010) (court can excuse bond required for 
17

injunction only on “specific finding” that “rare exception” 

applies). These violations of Rule 65 were legal error.

V

Procedural missteps often lead to substantive errors, and

that is true in this case as well. The District Court abused its 

discretion when it held that Petitioners showed a substantial 

likelihood of success on the merits of their claims. Before we 

address that issue, however, we must determine whether 

Petitioners properly brought their claims via petition for writ 

of habeas corpus.

The parties dispute whether release sought on the basis 

of conditions of confinement is cognizable under the habeas 

statute. “Of course, the party who brings a suit is master to 

decide what law he will rely upon.” Fair v. Kohler Die & 

Specialty Co., 228 U.S. 22, 25 (1913). Petitioners brought an 

action seeking only the writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 

U.S.C. § 2241, and they reiterate on appeal that they do not 

“seek[] to modify their conditions [of confinement]” and “the 

only relief sought by Petitioners—the only adequate relief for 

the constitutional claims—is release, which is unequivocally a 

habeas remedy.” Pet’rs’ Br. 50 (internal quotations and 

citations omitted). 

The Government contends that “[h]abeas [] is an 

improper vehicle . . . for detainees to challenge their conditions 

of confinement.” Gov’t’s Br. 29. If the Government is correct, 

Petitioners cannot show likelihood of success. The District 

Court held that Petitioners properly brought their petition for 

release as one seeking the writ of habeas corpus. We agree. 
18

The traditional function of the writ of habeas corpus is 

to secure release from unlawful executive detention. Munaf v. 

Geren, 553 U.S. 674, 693 (2008). Where a petitioner seeks 

release from detention, habeas (not a § 1983 action seeking 

release) is proper. Even where a complaint seeks both damages 

pursuant to § 1983 and habeas relief, the damages action 

should be stayed while habeas is exhausted. Tedford v. 

Hepting, 990 F.2d 745, 749 (3d Cir. 1993).

The Government argues that under Leamer v. Fauver, 

288 F.3d 532, 542 (3d Cir. 2002), Petitioners cannot challenge 

their conditions via habeas. Leamer was a prisoner who filed a

§ 1983 action challenging prison restrictions that denied him 

required treatment. We determined that Leamer’s claim was 

properly brought under § 1983. Leamer, 288 F.3d at 542. Our 

discussion of challenges requiring resort to habeas and our 

holding that the use of § 1983 was appropriate in that case does 

not undermine the availability of habeas to Petitioners here, 

however. 

In addressing the nature of habeas and § 1983, we 

observed:

Although both § 1983 and habeas corpus allow 

prisoners to challenge unconstitutional conduct 

by state officers, the two are not coextensive 

either in purpose or effect. Habeas relief is 

clearly quite limited: “The underlying purpose of 

proceedings under the ‘Great Writ’ of habeas 

corpus has traditionally been to ‘inquire into the 

legality of the detention, and the only judicial 

relief authorized was the discharge of the 

prisoner or his admission to bail, and that only if 

his detention were found to be 
19

unlawful.’” Powers of Congress and the Court 

Regarding the Availability and Scope of 

Review, 114 Harv. L. Rev. 1551, 1553 

(2001) . . . . There is only a narrow subset of 

actions that arguably might properly be brought 

as either, that is, where the deprivation of rights 

is such that it necessarily impacts the fact or 

length of detention. In a series of decisions, the 

Supreme Court has made it clear that for those 

cases, the narrower remedy, the habeas petition, 

is the only available avenue of relief.

Leamer, 288 F.3d at 540. We expressly recognized that where 

the remedy sought was release from detention, the party was 

required to “proceed by way of habeas petition.” Id. at 540–41 

(citing Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641 (1997)). 

As early as 1949, our Court recognized the potential for 

habeas as a means of challenging unconstitutional conditions 

of confinement. See Johnson v. Dye, 175 F.2d 250, 256 (3d Cir. 

1949) (en banc) (holding that habeas relief releasing petitioner 

was the appropriate remedy to avoid cruel and unusual 

punishment inflicted in Georgia prisons), rev’d on other 

grounds, Dye v. Johnson, 338 U.S. 684 (1949) (exhaustion 

required). And in Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 499 

(1973), the Supreme Court recognized that a challenge to 

conditions of confinement rendering otherwise lawful custody 

unconstitutional arguably would lie in habeas. As recently as 

2017, the Supreme Court observed that this remains an open 

question, however. Ziglar v. Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. 1843, 1862–63 

(2017). 

We have never held that a detainee cannot file a habeas 

petition to challenge conditions that render his continued 
20

detention unconstitutional. Although the context of the vast 

majority of habeas cases involve challenges to criminal 

judgments, the language of the habeas statute justifies resort to 

the writ by non-prisoner detainees. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241,

district courts may grant the writ, but their power to grant it is 

restricted. For example, the writ is unavailable to persons 

detained as enemy combatants. See 28 U.S.C. § 2241(e). This 

suggests that, where the exclusion in § 2241(e) does not apply, 

the writ is available to immigration detainees like Petitioners 

here, who are not challenging convictions or sentences. So the 

fact of Petitioners’ present confinement at York and Pike and

the constitutionality of their conditions of confinement is a 

matter properly challenged by petition for the writ. Accord

Wilson v. Williams, 961 F.3d 829, 838 (6th Cir. 2020).

In recognizing the viability of this § 2241 claim we are 

not creating a garden variety cause of action. As the Supreme 

Court has instructed: “habeas corpus is an extraordinary 

remedy whose operation is to a large extent uninhibited by 

traditional rules of finality and federalism, its use has been 

limited to cases of special urgency, leaving more conventional 

remedies for cases in which the restraints on liberty are neither 

severe nor immediate.” Hensley v. Mun. Court, San Jose 

Milpitas Judicial Dist., 411 U.S. 345, 351 (1973). We 

acknowledged as much. See Ali v. Gibson, 572 F.2d 971 (3d 

Cir. 1978), superseded by statute on other grounds as 

recognized in Callwood v. Enos, 230 F.3d 627, 633 (3d Cir. 

2000). There, we noted that the petitioner, who had been 

convicted in the Virgin Islands of several counts of first-degree 

murder, assault, and robbery, and who was later incarcerated 

in Georgia, might not be able to assert a § 2241 claim. We 

observed that, at best, his claim rose “to a possible habeas 

attack on the conditions of confinement, cognizable in a federal 
21

habeas action only in extreme cases.” Id. at 975 n.8. (emphasis 

added). Given the extraordinary circumstances that existed in 

March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are 

satisfied that their § 2241 claim seeking only release on the 

basis that unconstitutional confinement conditions require it is 

not improper.5

For these reasons, we hold that Petitioners’ claim that 

unconstitutional conditions of confinement at York and Pike 

require their release is cognizable in habeas. 

VI

We turn now to likelihood of success on the merits.

Petitioners claim their conditions of confinement violate the 

Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States 

Constitution. As immigration detainees, Petitioners are entitled 

to the same due process protections as pretrial detainees. E.D. 

v. Sharkey, 928 F.3d 299, 306–07 (3d Cir. 2019). Petitioners 

are in federal custody pursuant to the INA and housed in state 

facilities, so they are protected by the Due Process Clauses of 

the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. See Plyler v. Doe, 457 

U.S. 202, 210 (1982). Although the Eighth Amendment does 

not apply here, Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 318 (1986), 

the substantive due process guarantees afforded detainees like 

Petitioners are at least as robust as Eighth Amendment 

protections afforded prisoners, Boring v. Kozakiewicz, 833 

F.2d 468, 472 (3d Cir. 1987). Applying this framework, we 

conclude the District Court abused its discretion when it held 

5 We do not address at this time whether a § 2241 

claim may be asserted in less serious circumstances.
22

that Petitioners showed a substantial likelihood of success on 

the merits of their claims.

A

Petitioners advanced their substantive due process 

claim under two separate but related theories: (1) because of 

their age and healthcare needs, the conditions at York and Pike 

subject them to punishment; and (2) the Government was 

deliberately indifferent to their serious medical needs. The 

District Court determined Petitioners were likely to succeed 

under both theories.

The Government contends Petitioners can proceed only 

under the deliberate indifference theory, citing to Sharkey, 928 

F.3d at 309. There are two problems with this argument. First, 

in Sharkey, we held the detainee plausibly stated a claim for 

unconstitutional punishment for an alleged sexual assault by a 

detention facility employee. Our discussion of deliberate 

indifference related to the detainee’s claim against Sharkey’s

fellow employees and supervisor for their failure to protect the 

detainee against the known risk of serious harm. 928 F.3d at 

308. Second, we held long ago that substantive due process 

proscribes punishment of non-prisoners. See Hubbard v. 

Taylor, 399 F.3d 150, 158 (3d Cir. 2005) (Hubbard I). So the 

District Court was correct to address both theories.

B

We first address Petitioners’ claim that their detention 

is unconstitutional punishment. In accordance with the 

Supreme Court’s decision in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 549 

(1979), detainees may not be punished before they are 

adjudicated guilty. Hubbard v. Taylor (Hubbard II), 538 F.3d 
23

229, 231 (3d Cir. 2008). Petitioners asserted—and the District 

Court found—that, if Petitioners are exposed to COVID-19 and 

if they contract the virus, their ages and medical conditions put 

them at “imminent risk” of serious illness, including possible 

death. App. 2, 9, 39–40 & nn. 2–3; Supp. App. 7. The District 

Court articulated its findings as to the conditions of each 

Petitioner that subjected the Petitioner to increased risk if they 

contracted COVID-19. These individual findings are not clear 

error. Nevertheless, the District Court erred in holding that 

because age and medical conditions put them at increased risk 

if they contracted the virus, Petitioners were likely to show the 

Government subjected them to punishment.

The touchstone for the constitutionality of detention is

whether conditions of confinement are meant to punish or are 

“but an incident of some other legitimate governmental 

purpose.” Hubbard II, 538 F.3d at 232 (quoting Bell, 441 U.S. 

at 538). “[T]he ultimate question” is whether conditions are

“reasonably related to a legitimate governmental objective.” 

Id. at 236 (quoting Bell, 441 U.S. at 549). If Petitioners are

subject to conditions unrelated to a legitimate governmental 

objective, “we may infer ‘that the purpose of the governmental 

action is punishment that may not be constitutionally inflicted 

upon detainees qua detainees.’” Sharkey, 928 F.3d at 307 

(quoting Hubbard II, 538 F.3d at 232). Hubbard I further 

instructs that we consider the totality of the circumstances of 

confinement, including any genuine privations or hardship 

over an extended period of time, and whether conditions are 

(1) rationally related to their legitimate purpose or

(2) excessive in relation to that purpose. Hubbard I, 399 F.3d 

at 159–160; see, e.g., Union Cnty. Jail Inmates v. DiBuono, 

713 F.2d 984, 995–96 (3d Cir. 1983) (though double-bunking 

involved cramped, crowded cells for sleeping, it was not 
24

punishment because it eliminated floor mattresses and 

permitted more recreational space). 

In assessing whether conditions and restrictions are

excessive given their purposes, the courts must acknowledge

that practical considerations of detention justify limitations on 

“many privileges and rights.” Bell, 441 U.S. at 545–46.

Though not a convicted prisoner, a detainee “simply does not 

possess the full range of freedoms of an unincarcerated 

individual.” Id. at 546. Thus, “[t]he fact of confinement as well 

as the legitimate goals and policies of the [] institution limits 

[Petitioners’] retained constitutional rights.” Id.

Important here—and largely ignored by the District 

Court and Petitioners—are the legitimate objectives and 

difficulties of managing a detention facility, Hubbard II, 538 

F.3d at 233, and the objectives of immigration detention: 

ensuring appearance at detention proceedings and protecting 

the public from harm. See DiBuono, 713 F.2d at 993; 8 U.S.C. 

§ 1226(c).

As the Supreme Court cautioned in Bell v. Wolfish:

In determining whether restrictions or conditions 

are reasonably related to the Government’s 

interest in maintaining security and order and 

operating the institution in a manageable fashion, 

courts must heed our warning that such 

considerations are peculiarly within the province

and professional expertise of corrections 

officials, and, in the absence of substantial 

evidence in the record to indicate that the 

officials have exaggerated their response to these 
25

considerations, courts should ordinarily defer to 

their expert judgment in such matters.

441 U.S. at 540 n.23 (citations omitted); see also Block v. 

Rutherford, 468 U.S. 576, 584 (1984) (noting the “very limited 

role that courts should play in the administration of detention 

facilities”). We defer to administrators on matters of 

correctional facility administration “not merely because the 

administrator ordinarily will . . . have a better grasp of his 

domain than the reviewing judge, but also because the 

operation of our correctional facilities is peculiarly the 

province of the Legislative and Executive Branches of our 

Government not the Judicial.” Bell, 441 U.S. at 520. 

The District Court could see “no rational relationship 

between a legitimate government objective and keeping 

Petitioners detained in unsanitary, tightly-packed 

environments—[because] doing so would constitute a 

punishment to Petitioners.” App. 10 (quoting Thakker, 2020

WL 1671563, at *8). But Petitioners’ confinement implicates 

multiple legitimate governmental objectives, including: (1)

ensuring Petitioners’ appearances at removal proceedings; (2) 

protecting the public; and (3) managing the detention facilities. 

The District Court erred when it failed to consider these

legitimate objectives.

As to the conclusion that conditions at York and Pike 

were “unsanitary,” the District Court relied on evidence from

a prior case and ignored the Government’s improvements at 

the facilities. In its April 7 decision, the Court made the 

following findings as to conditions at York and Pike based on 

its findings in Thakker and after considering only Petitioners’ 

filings:
26

• four Pike detainees (other than Petitioners) 

and four Pike employees tested positive for 

COVID-19;

• one York detainee tested positive;

• staff leave the facilities and return but do not 

reliably wear gloves and masks when 

interacting with inmates;

• temperature checks, even as to those thought 

to be exposed to the virus, were infrequent; 

• cell blocks housing individuals testing 

positive are not thoroughly evacuated and 

cleaned; and 

• symptomatic inmates remain in general 

housing for days, and even once 

quarantined, others exposed to them were

not tested. 

App. 7–8, 10. The Court observed (before the Government

could respond) that it saw no indication from Petitioners’ 

filings that conditions had improved since its decision in 

Thakker because people tested positive at both York and Pike,

and it “assumed” positive COVID-19 cases must be much 

higher. App. 7. 

Then, in its April 10 decision, when the Court 

considered only the Government’s reconsideration motion, it 

made just one additional comment we construe as a “finding” 

as to conditions: “[w]hile [the facilities] may have ramped up 

their sanitation protocols, the simple fact that inmates are 

incapable of social distancing in the facilities remains.” App. 

20. The Petition and supporting declarations described as 

“ideal” the social distancing parameter of six feet. The Court

made that “ideal” a sine qua non of constitutional detention for 
27

individuals at higher risk of serious harm if they contract 

COVID-19. In doing so, the Court was not “mindful that these 

inquiries spring from constitutional requirements and that 

judicial answers to them must reflect that fact rather than a 

court’s idea of how best to operate a detention facility.” Bell,

441 U.S. at 539.

Even more fundamentally, the District Court never 

addressed the Government’s substantive response to the 

petition and motion for TRO. Nor did it meaningfully consider 

pertinent evidence on conditions provided by the Government, 

including social distancing efforts at York and Pike. According 

to the Government’s filings, in the wake of COVID-19, it is 

complying with guidance from the CDC and epidemiologists 

from ICE Health Services Corps., and both York and Pike were

operating at approximately 60 percent capacity (York can hold 

2,245 inmates but had 1,341; Pike can hold 375 but had 221).

Upon admission, detainees were screened for disabilities and 

conditions, as well as for fever, respiratory illness, exposure to 

an area with many COVID-19 cases, and known contact with 

someone who tested positive within the previous two weeks. If

there had been such contact, any exposed detainees would be 

placed in a cohort for 14 days with daily monitoring for 

symptoms. If a detainee presented with COVID-19 symptoms, 

he or she was isolated and tested. Detainees who began to show 

any COVID-19 symptoms were isolated, as were their

cellmates. Those testing positive were placed in medical 

isolation and quarantined. In addition, York and Pike provided:

masks to detainees; hand sanitizer and hygiene education to 

staff; and soap, water, and hard surface disinfectant to every 

housing unit. Both facilities encouraged staff to use sanitizer, 

soap, water, and disinfectant often and liberally. They 

encouraged staff to clean high traffic and high contact areas 
28

multiple times throughout the day and medical staff were onsite around the clock with the ability to admit patients to the 

local hospital. York and Pike also administered temperature 

checks to staff and vendors and suspended tours and visitation.

Professional visits were contactless. Finally, all staff, 

contractors, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations 

personnel, and medical staff wore N95 masks; kitchen staff 

wore surgical masks; and isolated detainees wore N95 masks 

when they left their cohort housing unit. At Pike, movement 

was staggered and meals were served in cells. All of these 

efforts were material to the District Court’s assessment of the 

conditions challenged as punishment, yet it addressed none of 

them.

Bell requires us to consider whether the Government 

imposed the challenged conditions for the express purpose of 

punishment, and if not, whether they are rationally connected 

to a legitimate purpose but excessive in relation to its purpose. 

441 U.S. at 538. 

[I]f a particular condition or restriction of pretrial 

detention is reasonably related to a legitimate 

governmental objective, it does not, without 

more, amount to “punishment.” Conversely, if a 

restriction or condition is not reasonably related 

to a legitimate goal—if it is arbitrary or 

purposeless—a court permissibly may infer that 

the purpose of the governmental action is 

punishment that may not constitutionally be 

inflicted upon detainees qua detainees.

Id. at 539.
29

Petitioners do not argue the Government subjected them 

to any conditions at York and Pike intended to harm them. 

Instead, they contend broadly the Government has no 

legitimate interest in detaining them in violation of their 

constitutional rights. But that truism sheds no light on the 

merits of their claims. Nor did the District Court’s

determination that the Government has no legitimate interest 

in detaining Petitioners in “unsanitary, tightly-packed 

environments.” App. 10. In so concluding, the Court ignored 

legitimate governmental objectives and did not assess the 

conditions at York and Pike as of April 10.

We also reject—as contrary to Supreme Court 

precedent and federal statute—the District Court’s view that,

because the Government has means other than detention to 

effectuate the INA’s provisions for exclusion or expulsion of 

aliens, Petitioners’ civil detention cannot be rationally related 

to a legitimate government purpose. Detention of aliens 

pending their removal in accordance with the INA is

constitutional and is supported by legitimate governmental 

objectives. See Demore v. Kim, 538 U.S. 510, 531 (2003); 

Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U.S. 228, 235 (1896). In fact,

Congress has deemed the detention of criminal aliens so 

important that it is required by statute. 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c).

These congressional objectives held constitutional by the 

Supreme Court—detention of aliens in removal proceedings 

and mandatory detention of criminal aliens—render unsound 

the District Court’s conclusion that civil detention of aliens in 

removal proceedings is tantamount to punishment. See Nielsen, 

139 S. Ct. at 959 (quoting § 1226(a)) (Congress, through 8 

U.S.C. § 1226(a), “empowers the Secretary of Homeland 

Security to arrest and hold an alien ‘pending a decision on 

whether the alien is to be removed from the United States.’”);
30

see also 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c) (mandatory detention for those 

convicted of crimes of moral turpitude, controlled substances 

offenses, and terrorism offenses); 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(2) 

(mandatory detention for certain aliens ordered removed); 8 

U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) (detention beyond removal period for

aliens ordered removed and determined a risk to the public or 

not likely to comply with the order).

Considering all the responsive measures specifically 

implemented to detect and to prevent spread of the virus, the 

challenges of facility administration during an unprecedented 

situation, and the purposes served by detention—Petitioners 

did not show a substantial likelihood of success on their claim

that the conditions of their confinement constitute 

unconstitutional punishment. We therefore hold the District 

Court erred as to its punishment determination.

C

Petitioners argue in the alternative that the Government

deprived them of substantive due process when it acted with 

deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs (i.e., their 

vulnerability to COVID-19 because of their ages and medical 

conditions). See Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25, 34–35

(1993) (recognizing claim of deliberate indifference of 

officials to exposure to tobacco smoke that poses unreasonable 

health risk); Palakovic v. Wetzel, 854 F.3d 209, 224 (3d Cir. 

2017) (particular vulnerability to suicide due to mental health 

conditions); Natale, 318 F.3d at 582 (particular vulnerability 

due to insulin dependent diabetes). To establish deliberate 

indifference, Petitioners must show the Government knew of 

and disregarded an excessive risk to their health and safety. 

Nicini v. Morra, 212 F.3d 798, 811 (3d Cir. 2000) (citing 

Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837 (1994)).
31

Our decision in Palakovic—which involved a pretrial

detainee’s “particular vulnerability”—is relevant here. 854 

F.3d at 218. There we addressed allegations that officials 

showed deliberate indifference toward a detainee’s exposure to 

a substantial risk of serious damage to his future health—that 

his particular vulnerability to suicide combined with detention 

conditions created a substantial risk of suicide and attempted 

suicide. Id. at 226. We recognized even if detention officials 

afford some care to the detainee, it still might not satisfy the 

Constitution’s demands in every situation. Id. at 228. But 

“mere disagreement” as to the response to the risk to 

Petitioners in light of their medical condition will not support 

constitutional infringement. Monmouth Cnty. Corr. Inst.

Inmates v. Lanzaro, 834 F.2d 326, 346 (3d Cir. 1987). 

Deliberate indifference requires significantly more than 

negligence. County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 

849–50 (1998). Indeed, deliberate indifference “is a ‘subjective 

standard of liability consistent with recklessness as that term is 

defined in the criminal law.’” Natale, 318 F.3d at 582 (quoting 

Nicini, 212 F.3d at 811). 

The context of the Government’s conduct is essential to 

determine whether it shows the requisite deliberate 

indifference that “shocks the conscience” for a substantive due 

process violation. Lewis, 523 U.S. at 846. Just as we afford 

leeway to prison medical officials in diagnosing and treating a 

detainee’s physical and mental health, deference is due prison 

administrators here. The Supreme Court cautioned in Lewis:

Rules of due process are not . . . subject to 

mechanical application in unfamiliar territory. 

Deliberate indifference that shocks in one 

environment may not be so patently egregious in 

another, and our concern with preserving the 
32

constitutional proportions of substantive due 

process demands an exact analysis of 

circumstances before any abuse of power is 

condemned as conscience shocking. 

523 U.S. at 850 (emphasis added).

The District Court correctly observed that COVID-19 

presents “highly unusual and unique circumstances,” App. 12, 

that have “radically transformed our everyday lives in ways 

previously inconceivable,” App. 6, and have “altered [our 

world] with lightning speed . . . and unprecedented [results.]” 

App. 13. So we must evaluate the Government’s response to 

the virus in that context. But the Court’s orders do not indicate 

any serious consideration of the Government’s recent efforts at 

York and Pike, save for a passing reference in the April 10 

order that the Government had “ramped up [] sanitation 

protocols.” App. 20.

In this context, Petitioners urge that because the virus 

has no vaccine or cure, exposure to it is per se unconstitutional.

They also claim “[s]ocial distancing and proper hygiene” are 

the only “effective means” to prevent Petitioners from 

contracting the virus in detention, and “[p]reventative 

measures remain impossible at [York and Pike].” App. 106. In 

essence, they argue that the Government must eliminate 

entirely their risk of contracting COVID-19. That task is not 

the constitutional standard, however. Although the District 

Court criticized the Government for the lack of “effective 

containment measures,” and for not doing “nearly enough” to 

combat COVID-19, App. 7–9, those critiques are not 

tantamount to establishing the Government’s deliberate 

indifference.
33

Nor does a failure to eliminate all risk establish that the 

Government was deliberately indifferent to their serious 

medical needs. Recognizing challenges inherent in the 

detention setting, CDC guidance suggests placing detainees 

into cohorts where social distancing is not practical. CDC, 

Interim Guidance on Management of Coronavirus Disease 

2019 (COVID-19) in Correctional and Detention Facilities, 

(last visited Aug. 3, 2020), 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-

ncov/community/correction-detention/guidance-correctionaldetention.html (explaining that social-distancing strategies 

“will need to be tailored to the individual space in the facility 

and the needs of the population and staff” and that “[n]ot all 

strategies will be feasible in all facilities”). The petition and 

supporting declarations rely on CDC literature and 

recommendations. And the District Court relies heavily on its 

decision in Thakker, which in turn relies on CDC guidance for 

support. Yet the Court said nothing about CDC guidance 

specific to detention facilities.

The record shows that the Government increased its 

efforts to minimize risk by improving hygiene and decreasing

exposure even as information on the virus changed. But the 

Court undertook no analysis of those efforts. Instead, the Court

summarily concluded that the efforts were not enough. The 

Court made no specific findings regarding how each Petitioner

was housed. Instead, it determined “that inmates are incapable 

of social distancing in the facilities.” App. 20.

In sum, we hold that Petitioners fell well short of 

establishing that the Government was deliberately indifferent

toward their medical needs. Considering the record as a whole,

we have a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been 

committed. Petitioners did not show a likelihood of success, 
34

much less a strong likelihood of success, that their substantive 

due process rights were violated by either punishment or 

deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs.

VII

In addition to its errors regarding Petitioners’ likelihood 

of success on the merits, the District Court erred in evaluating 

irreparable harm to Petitioners in the absence of relief, 

balancing the harms to each side, considering the public 

interest, and fashioning an “all-or-nothing” remedy.

A

Assuming Petitioners could succeed in showing 

likelihood of success, before balancing the harms and 

considering the public interest, the District Court was required 

to find that each Petitioner showed they would suffer 

irreparable injury absent relief. See Reilly v. City of 

Harrisburg, 858 F.3d 173, 176, 179 (3d Cir. 2017).

After finding Petitioners are “all at heightened risk for 

severe complications from COVID-19,” the District Court 

found they faced irreparable harm “should they contract” the 

virus. App. 9. This circular reasoning does not support relief 

because it applies regardless whether Petitioners are detained 

or released.

Moreover, in assessing irreparable harm, the Court 

should have considered several factors for each individual 

(beyond just their ages and medical conditions) because “the 

personal nature of constitutional rights” is a “cardinal 

principle[] of our constitutional order,” New York v. Ferber, 

458 U.S. 747, 767 (1982). Yet a fundamental problem pervades 
35

the District Court’s analysis: it treated Petitioners as a unit 

instead of as individuals with their own unique medical 

histories, medical risks, healthcare access needs, detention 

conditions, and release circumstances. It should have assessed 

all of these factors for each Petitioner to determine whether 

they would suffer more harm in detention than if released.

For example, the District Court did not consider the 

particular confinement conditions of each Petitioner at York 

and Pike. Nor did it compare the conditions of the particular 

communities to which each Petitioner would be released. 

Questions abound on this point. How prevalent was the virus 

in their home communities? Would they live in close quarters 

with many family members or others? Were their families or 

roommates exposed to the virus or at risk of exposure? How 

would their access to healthcare at home compare to that 

provided at York and Pike? In other words, were they more 

likely to contract the virus than if they remained detained? In 

sum, the District Court’s failure to make a particularized 

inquiry and individualized findings as to the comparative risk 

faced by each Petitioner inside and outside of detention was 

error.

B

The District Court’s failure to make particularized 

findings also pervaded its balancing of harms, which likewise 

was error. The comparison of harm to the Government as 

opposed to the harm to Petitioners turns mostly on matters of 

public interest because these considerations “merge when the 

Government is the opposing party.” Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 

418, 435 (2009). And the District Court’s consideration of risk 

to the public’s safety before providing preliminary injunctive 

relief is crucial. Yet the District Court did not address risk of 
36

harm to the public in terms of the Petitioners’ individual 

criminal history and risk of flight nor did it adequately consider 

associated burdens on public healthcare by each Petitioner’s 

release.

The District Court said it “cannot find, in the face of the 

scope of the COVID-19 pandemic that is washing through this 

country and the subject facilities, that the public interest favors 

continued detention of civil immigration detainees with 

underlying health conditions that render them particularly 

vulnerable were they to contract COVID-19.” App. 19–20.

This analysis of the public interest suffers from the same flaw 

we addressed in Continental Group, Inc. v. Amoco Chemicals 

Corp., 614 F.2d 351 (3d Cir. 1980), where the public interest 

“was expressed only in general and abstract terms.” Id. at 357. 

By merely acknowledging that the public’s interest is not 

served by the Government violating constitutional rights, the 

District Court rendered the public interest “no more than a 

makeweight for the court’s consideration of the moving party’s 

probability of eventual success on the merits.” Id. at 358. The 

Court thereby improperly eliminated the public interest from 

the required showing for preliminary injunctive relief.

Although the District Court ordered Petitioners to selfquarantine, it neither specified what that entails nor assessed 

each Petitioner’s ability to do so, and it undertook no 

consideration of the risk that Petitioners might spread COVID19 when released into the public. The notion that release 

lessens burdens on local healthcare resources requires a 

comparison of individual circumstances. Because nearly all 

Petitioners contended they have urgent and continuing health 

needs, the District Court should have considered burdens 

associated therewith on public healthcare resources.
37

In its April 10 decision, the Court stated it “respects the 

Respondents’ position that certain Petitioners pose a flight risk 

or danger to the community,” App. 19, and surmised that

because of travel restrictions associated with COVID-19, 

including worldwide travel restrictions, the risk of absconding 

“is low,” App. 12. So the District Court treated Petitioners as 

if they all had the same low flight risk, and it did so without 

even considering whether any of them had a prior history of 

failing to appear or danger to the community.

Moreover, the Court made no findings as to risks posed 

in light of each Petitioner’s criminal history. Instead, in its 

April 10 decision it stated to “allay some of the Respondents’ 

fears,” App. 20, it would include terms of release to “quell[]” 

concerns of flight risk and danger, App. 19. Petitioners’ 

individual criminal histories directly relate to the harm to the 

public by their release and the District Court’s failure to 

analyze those histories is especially problematic since many 

Petitioners were detained by congressional mandate or after an 

immigration judge had determined that detention was required 

to protect the public. Indeed, some of their criminal histories 

involve serious offenses, such as aggravated assaults, 

threatening sexual assault, first degree robbery, and weapons 

violations.

Finally, the District Court erred in not considering as 

part of the balancing of harm practical difficulties involved in 

locating and re-detaining Petitioners should the Government 

ultimately prevail or should a Petitioner abscond, commit a 

crime, or violate another term of release. See Hope I, 956 F.3d 

at 162.
38

C

The District Court also erred in fashioning relief. The 

Court too readily accepted the Petitioners’ all-or-nothing 

proposition that anything short of immediate release cannot

remedy their plight.

6

Because it improperly elevated ideal social distancing 

to a constitutional standard, the District Court granted release 

without fully considering other options potentially available to 

it. Without a hearing and without considering the 

Government’s opposition under the appropriate standard, it’s 

no surprise that in addition to failing to consider the 

6 Petitioners rely on Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493, 521 

(2011), to justify release as the remedy for the asserted 

unconstitutional conditions of confinement. But that case

involved the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3626, and a remedial injunction stipulated to by the state to 

address mental and medical care in overcrowded California 

prison populations. The PLRA includes release as a potential 

remedy to address unconstitutional prison conditions, but it

does not apply to civil immigration detainees. See 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3626(g)(3). And even if it did, Petitioners’ quest for 

immediate release would have been a non-starter because the 

statute mandates that relief for unconstitutional prison 

conditions (1) be “narrowly drawn;” (2) “extend no further 

than necessary to correct the harm the court finds requires 

preliminary relief;” (3) be “the least intrusive means necessary 

to correct that harm;” and (4) include release only where a 

proper order was entered as to conditions, the respondent had 

a reasonable amount of time to comply with it, and compliance 

failed. See 18 U.S.C. § 3626(a)(2) and (3).
39

Government’s increased social distancing and sanitation 

efforts at York and Pike in response to evolving circumstances, 

the Court failed to explore alternatives to avoid any irreparable 

harm to Petitioners. 

The Petitioners’ quest for nothing short of release 

appeared to leave little room for a remedy short of the most 

extreme one. See, e.g., Wilson v. Williams, 961 F.3d 829, 838 

(6th Cir. 2020) (habeas vehicle limits type of relief); O.M.G. v. 

Wolf, 2020 WL 4201635, at *8 (D.D.C. 2020) (immigration 

detainees seeking only “wholesale release” in light of risk of 

contracting COVID-19 by application for preliminary 

injunction not entitled to relief because they failed to show that 

nothing short of that relief can redress their injuries). In view 

of the legitimacy of mandatory and discretionary detention, 

even after a district court makes findings on the merits 

sufficient to support preliminary relief, it must carefully 

consider whether alternatives to release are appropriate before 

ordering release.

As to the terms of Petitioners’ release, the Court did not 

explain why it rejected the Government’s alternative request 

that if the Court ordered release that it should also order that:

the Detainees’ “counsel report each Petitioner’s whereabouts 

every 7 days;” they “be placed on home detention;” and they 

“wear ankle bracelets affixed by ICE.” App. 194 (emphasis 

added). The need for significant measures designed to ensure 

the Petitioners, once released, would not be “in the wind” 
40

seems quite obvious,7 particularly with respect to those who 

had a history of failing to appear or of flight. 

True enough, the District Court’s April 10 order 

imposed some terms on the Petitioners’ release to “allay” fears 

and “quell” concerns, such as reiterating their legally mandated 

appearance at any removal hearings and adding that they report

their whereabouts to their own attorneys. But its orders did not 

require any report to the Government, which would have 

provided some additional protection against risk of absconsion. 

Indeed, when asked at argument about the court-mandated 

weekly report by each Petitioner, their counsel admitted that

Petitioners’ reporting obligation had not been regularized. See

Oral Argument June 18, 2020 at 53:10–53:24. Finally, the 

Court did not explain its decision to release Petitioners on their 

own recognizance, instead of, at the very least, ordering home 

detention and monitoring by the Government.

VIII

We acknowledge difficulties faced by trial courts in 

emergent matters and the need to act immediately, particularly 

during a pandemic. But exigent circumstances do not empower 

a court to jettison fundamental principles of due process or the 

rules of procedure that govern such matters. For the reasons we 

have explained, the District Court committed procedural and 

substantive errors that require us to vacate the April 7 and April 

10, 2020 orders and remand the case for further proceedings 

consistent with this opinion. 

7 Some detainees released on their own recognizance in 

Thakker, 2020 WL 1671563, at *10, absconded.