IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

SYED M. RAZA NAQVI, :

:

Petitioner : CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:CV-04-1604

:

v. : (Judge Jones)

:

JOHN ASHCROFT, et al., :

:

Respondents :

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

June 7, 2005

THE BACKGROUND OF THIS ORDER IS AS FOLLOWS:

Petitioner, Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi (“Naqvi” or “Petitioner”), filed this Petition

for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. (Rec. Doc. 1). He challenges

an order of removal issued on November 8, 2002, by an Immigration Judge in York,

Pennsylvania, ordering Naqvi removed from the United States to Pakistan. On March

27, 2003, 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). (Rec. Doc. 15). For the reasons set forth below,

the motion will be granted and the petition will be transferred to the Third Circuit Court

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of Appeals. 

Respondents contend that “Section 106 of the REAL ID 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.” (Rec. Doc.

9 at 3). 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 Naqvi is challenging a final administrative order of removal, Section 106(c) mandates

transfer of the matter to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the circuit where the

Immigration Judge presided over the immigration proceedings and issued Petitioner's

removal. 

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NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT:

1. Respondents' Motion to Transfer (Rec. Doc. 15) is 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/ John E. Jones III 

John E. Jones III

United States District Judge

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