UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

:

PAUL VERNON, :

Petitioner : No. 4:CV-05-0307

:

vs. : (Petition Filed 02/11/05)

:

: (Judge Muir)

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND : 

CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, et al., :

:

Respondents :

ORDER

June 7, 2005

Petitioner, Paul Vernon (“Vernon”), filed this

petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

2241. He challenges a final order of removal issued on August

31, 2004, by an Immigration Judge in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, ordering Vernon removed from the United States

to Jamaica. On February 5, 2005, the Board of Immigration

Appeals affirmed the Immigration Judge's decision. Presently

pending before the Court is the Respondents' motion to transfer

the petition to the United States Court of Appeals for the

Third Circuit, pursuant to the REAL ID Act of 2005, H.R. 1268,

109th Cong. (2005). (Doc. 16). For the reasons set forth below,

the motion will be granted and the petition will be transferred

to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Respondents contend that “Section 106 of the REAL ID

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2

Act of 2005 amended section 242(a) of the INA to provide that

the sole and exclusive means to review an order of removal

shall be by petition for review in the applicable court of

appeals. H.R. 1268, 109th Cong. (2005)(enacted), Pub.L.No. 109-

13, Div.B, 119 Stat. 231.” (Doc. 16, p. 2). The amendment

became effective on May 11, 2005. Section 106(c) provides that

[i]f an alien’s case, brought under section 2241 of

title 28, United States Code, and challenging a final

administrative order of removal, deportation, or

exclusion, is pending in a district court on the date

of the enactment of this division, then the district

court shall transfer the case (or the part of the

case that challenges the order of removal,

deportation, or exclusion) to the court of appeals

for the circuit in which a petition for review could

have been properly filed under section 242(b)(2) of

the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1252),

as amended by this section, or under section

309(c)(4)(D) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and

Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1101

note). The court of appeals shall treat the

transferred case as if it had been filed pursuant to

a petition for review under section 242, except that

subsection (b)(1) of such section shall not apply.

 

As Vernon is challenging a final administrative order of

removal, Section 106(c) mandates transfer of the matter to the

Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the circuit where the

Immigration Judge presided over the immigration proceedings and

ordered Petitioner removed from the United States to Jamaica.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT:

1. Respondents’ motion to transfer (Doc. 16) is

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GRANTED.

2. The Clerk of Court is directed to

TRANSFER the instant action to the

United States Court of Appeals for

the Third Circuit. 

3. The Clerk of Court is directed to

CLOSE this case.

 s/Malcolm Muir 

 

MUIR

United States District Judge

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