IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

ROBERT BEATON, :

(A 36 709 542) :

Petitioner : CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:04-CV-0494

:

v. : (Judge Jones)

:

JOHN ASHCROFT, et al., :

:

Respondents :

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

August 24, 2005

Petitioner, Robert Beaton (“Beaton”), 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 February 21, 2003, by an Immigration Judge in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, ordering him removed from the United States to Guyana. (Rec. Doc.

14). On February 18, 2004, the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the

Immigration Judge's decision. Id. 

Presently pending before the Court is a response to the petition in which the

Respondent requests that the Petition be transferred 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. 14). For the reasons set forth below, the

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Respondent's request to transfer the Petition will be granted and the Petition will be

transferred to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Respondent contends 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. 14 at 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

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under section 242, except that subsection (b)(1) of such section shall not apply.” As

Beaton's Petition is challenging his 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. 

THEREFORE, T IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. Respondent's request to transfer the instant Petition for Writ of

Habeas Corpus (Rec. Doc. 14). 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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