[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 12-14418

Non-Argument Calendar

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D.C. Docket No. 1:11-cv-24289-CMA

MARK R. LOUIS, 

 Petitioner-Appellant,

versus

SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, 

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, 

Respondents-Appellees.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

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(July 31, 2013)

Before TJOFLAT, WILSON and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

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Mark R. Louis, a Florida prisoner serving a life sentence for first degree 

murder, appeals the district court’s denial of his pro se petition for a writ of habeas 

corpus brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. On appeal, Louis argues that the 

immigration detainer entered against him violated his due process rights. After 

careful review of the parties’ briefs, we affirm.

I.

Louis is a native and citizen of Haiti. He entered the United States without 

inspection on October 25, 1979. On March 18, 1983, a Florida state court 

convicted him of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison and was 

required to serve at least 25 years before he was eligible for parole. In April 1984, 

the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) initiated deportation proceeds 

against him by serving him with an order to show cause. In March of the next 

year, an immigration judge ordered Louis deported to Haiti. 

On June 13, 2007, the United States Department of Homeland Security, 

Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an immigration 

detainer against Louis with the Florida Department of Corrections. The detainer 

notified the Department of Corrections that Louis may be subject to removal from 

the United States and requested that the Department of Corrections notify ICE 

before Louis was released from custody in order to provide the Department of 

Homeland Security adequate time to assume custody of him.

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In the fall of 2011, Louis filed his 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition in the District 

Court for the Southern District of Florida. The petition asks the district court to 

vacate his detainer because it violates his due process rights in two ways. First, the 

final removal order is invalid because changes in Haiti, particularly the destruction 

from the 2010 earthquake, prevent his removal. Thus, according to Louis, because

the final removal is invalid, so too is the detainer. Second, the detainer prevented 

him from participating in work release and other prison privileges available to 

inmates not subject to an immigration detainer. 

We review de novo the district court’s denial of habeas relief under 28 

U.S.C. § 2241. Skinner v. Wiley, 355 F.3d 1293, 1294 (11th Cir. 2004) (per 

curiam). A petitioner can use a § 2241 petition to challenge custody alleged to be 

in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States. See 28 U.S.C. § 

2241(c)(3). An ICE detainer, standing alone, is generally insufficient to establish 

ICE custody. Orozco v. U.S. INS, 911 F.2d 539, 541 (11th Cir. 1990) (per curiam). 

Here, Louis does not challenge his custody in Florida state prison resulting 

from his Florida state conviction. Rather, Louis alleges that the ICE detainer is 

somehow “custody” that is “in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United 

States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3). But Louis’s claims must fail because “[t]he filing 

of the detainer, standing alone, did not cause [him] to come within the custody of 

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the INS.” Orozco, 911 F.2d at 541. Accordingly, the district court correctly

determined that it lacked jurisdiction over the petition. 

AFFIRMED.

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