Opinion ID: 783278
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Proper Respondent

Text: 64 For the reasons discussed, strict adherence to the rule that the appropriate respondent in an alien's habeas petitions is the alien's immediate physical custodian does not make sense in the immigration context. After surveying the other possibilities, we conclude that the most appropriate respondent to petitions brought by immigration detainees is the individual in charge of the national government agency under whose auspices the alien is detained. 65 In supplemental briefing, both Armentero and the INS have advanced their suggestions for a proper respondent in habeas cases brought by immigration detainees. Notably, neither party proposes that the warden of the facility in which Armentero is detained is the appropriate respondent. Armentero proposes that we deem the INS, or its successor administrative body, a proper respondent. Because the statutory language specifies that a writ of habeas corpus state the name of the person  who has custody over the petitioner, 28 U.S.C. § 2242 (emphasis added), we think it more appropriate that a natural person, rather than an agency, be named as respondent where, as here, it is possible and logical to do so. 7 Compare Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U.S. 236, 83 S.Ct. 373, 9 L.Ed.2d 285 (1963) (Parole Board was properly named as respondent in parolee's habeas petition where statutes and parole order placed the petitioner under direct custody and control of the Parole Board rather than an individual officer). 66 We also reject, however, the INS' proposal that the appropriate respondent to such habeas actions is the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Interim District Director for the region in which a petitioner is detained. Designating the Interim District Director as the proper respondent would entail some of the same the pitfalls presented by strict adherence to the immediate physical custodian rule. It would illogically tether the detainee's petition to a local figurehead, complicating adjudication of the petition when a detainee is transferred to a facility in another region. 67 Instead of adopting one of these possibilities proffered by the parties, we conclude that the Attorney General was — at the time Armentero's petition was filed, that is, prior to November 2002 — the appropriate respondent to an immigration detainee's habeas petition. Under the old system, the Attorney General oversaw the activities of the INS and exercised a unique decisionmaking authority over immigration matters, including detention and parole of aliens. See 8 U.S.C. § 1103(a)(1) (2001) (The Attorney General shall be charged with administration and enforcement of laws under[the INA].); 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A) (2001) (Attorney General's power to parole aliens and to return them to custody when he determines that the purposes of parole are served); 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) (2001) (Attorney General's power to detain inadmissable or criminal aliens); Henderson, 157 F.3d at 126. The efficiency considerations described above also support this conclusion. 68 Because Armentero did not designate the proper custodian when his petition was filed, however, we must now remand in order to allow him to name a proper respondent. Thus, the intervening passage of the Homeland Security Act, Pub.L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (Nov. 25, 2002), necessarily informs our designation of the proper respondent for the purposes of Armentero's future proceedings, as well as for habeas petitions filed after November 2002. 69 The Homeland Security Act abolishes the INS and transfers its enforcement responsibilities to the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security (BTS), a division of the newly-created Department of Homeland Security (DHS), thereby dramatically reconfiguring the administrative structure for enforcing the nation's immigration laws. See Pub.L. No. 107-296, §§ 402, 441, 471, 116 Stat. 2135, 2177-78, 2192, 2205; 6 U.S.C. §§ 202, 251, 291. The DHS Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary for the Directorate of BTS, is now charged with [c]arrying out the immigration enforcement functions vested by statute in, or performed by, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization (or any officer, employee, or component of the Immigration and Naturalization Service). Pub.L. No. 107-296, § 402(3), 116 Stat. 2135, 2178; 6 U.S.C. § 202(3). These duties include administering the INS' detention and removal program. Pub.L. No. 107-296, § 441(2), 116 Stat. 2135, 2192; 6 U.S.C. § 251(2). 70 Because the Homeland Security Act transfers most immigration law enforcement responsibilities from the INS, a subdivision of the Department of Justice, to the BTS, a subdivision of the Department of Homeland Security, the extent of the Attorney General's power to direct the detention of aliens is unclear. Notably, statutory language relied on by the Second Circuit in Henderson for the proposition that the Attorney General plays a uniquely pervasive role in detaining aliens remains intact, as do other provisions granting the Attorney General power to detain aliens. See, e.g., 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A) (Attorney General may parole an individual alien or return him to the custody from which he was paroled); 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c) (Attorney General is required to detain and has the power to release certain criminal aliens); 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) (Attorney General may determine whether to detain removable and inadmissable aliens); 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(3)(A) (designating Attorney General as respondent in petitions for review brought by aliens). 71 More recent language added to the INA by the Homeland Security Act suggests that the Attorney General may share with the DHS Secretary some responsibility for overseeing the detention of aliens. The amended INA charges the DHS Secretary with 72 the administration and enforcement [of the INA] and all other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens, except insofar as this chapter or such laws relate to the powers, functions, and duties conferred upon the President, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the officers of the Department of State, or diplomatic and consular offices: Provided, however, That determination and ruling by the Attorney General with respect to all questions of law shall be controlling. 73 8 U.S.C. § 1103(a)(1) (emphasis in original). Amended portions of the INA also authorize the Attorney General to make payments for services and supplies necessary to maintain detained aliens, to contract with state and local entities for detention arrangements, to exercise authority as was exercised by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and to establish such regulations, prescribe such forms of bond, reports, entries, and other papers, issue such instructions, review such administrative determinations in immigration proceedings, delegate such authority and perform such other acts as the Attorney General determines to be necessary for carrying out this section. 8 U.S.C. § 1103(a)(11), (g). 74 Moreover, the Attorney General has recently asserted a broad power to make controlling legal and policy determinations regarding whether individual aliens should be detained. See In re D-J, 23 I. & N. Dec. 572, 573-74, 2003 WL 1953603 (Op. Att'y Gen. April 17, 2003) (Although authority to enforce and administer the INA and other laws related to the immigration and naturalization of aliens has recently been transferred to the Secretary of Homeland Security by the HSA, the Attorney General retains his authority to make controlling determinations with respect to questions of law arising under those statutes.); see also id. (citing considerations of sound immigration policy and national security in denying bond to a detained alien). As it is not the question before us, we do not here decide whether the Attorney General has the powers he asserts. Until the exact parameters of the Attorney General's power to detain aliens under the new Homeland Security scheme are decisively delineated, we believe it makes sense for immigration habeas petitioners to name the Attorney General in addition to naming the DHS Secretary as respondents in their habeas petitions. 75 Having determined that, generally, the appropriate respondents in an immigration detainee's habeas petition are the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security 8 and, at least for the time being, the Attorney General, we turn to the specific circumstances of this case. Armentero has named the INS as sole respondent in his habeas petition. Although he might properly have named the Attorney General as sole respondent when he first filed his petition in 2001, the DHS Secretary now bears statutory responsibility for his detention. There also remains the possibility that the Attorney General continues to exercise control over his detention. It makes no sense to direct Armentero on remand to name only the Attorney General, who according to the Homeland Security Act no longer exercises primary custodial control over immigration detainees. We therefore remand to the district court with instructions that it permit Armentero to amend his petition to name the DHS Secretary and the Attorney General as respondents. See, e.g., Stanley v. California Supreme Court, 21 F.3d 359, 360 (9th Cir. 1994) (where petitioner improperly named court as respondent, remanding petition to the district court with instructions to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction unless petition was timely amended is appropriate). The DHS Secretary and the Attorney General may be described as a party by [their] official title[s] rather than by name; but the court may require the officer[s'] name[s] to be added. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 25(d)(2). If Armentero does not timely amend his petition, it must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See Stanley, 21 F.3d at 360.