Opinion ID: 3033374
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: Khouzam’s habeas petition to the District Court challenged the DHS’s decision to terminate his deferral of removal on statutory and constitutional grounds. The Government argued there, as it does here, that Congress removed habeas jurisdiction from the Court through, inter alia, the REAL ID Act of 2005. The District Court concluded that it had jurisdiction under the general habeas authority of 28 U.S.C. § 2241, after determining that a contrary interpretation would cause Suspension Clause problems. Khouzam v. Hogan, 529 F. Supp. 2d 543, 561 (M.D. Pa. 2008) (citing Khouzam v. Hogan, 497 F. Supp. 2d 615, 623 (M.D. Pa. 2007)). However, we agree with the Government that Congress spoke with sufficient clarity in the REAL ID Act to remove habeas jurisdiction over this matter. While this would ordinarily present a Suspension Clause problem, we do not reach the issue because, as discussed below, this Court has alternative jurisdiction to consider Khouzam’s arguments through his petition for review. 19 We review de novo the District Court’s interpretation of the statutes applicable to Khouzam’s habeas petition. Gerbier v. Holmes, 280 F.3d 297, 302 (3d Cir. 2002). The Supreme Court established in INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001), that there is a “longstanding rule requiring a clear statement of congressional intent to repeal habeas jurisdiction.” Id. at 298. In St. Cyr, the Supreme Court refused to interpret certain provisions of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (“IIRIRA”) so as to foreclose any judicial review of an order of removal. Id. at 311. The Court concluded that the IIRIRA provisions did not eliminate habeas jurisdiction because, despite expressly precluding “judicial review” and “jurisdiction to review,” none of them explicitly mentioned “habeas corpus” or 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Id. at 314. The “lack of a clear, unambiguous, and express statement of congressional intent to preclude judicial consideration on habeas,” combined with the absence of an alternate judicial forum, was fatal to the Government’s jurisdictional argument. Id. The Government argues here that the REAL ID Act of 2005 clearly and expressly removes habeas jurisdiction. See REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-13, div. B, § 106(a)(1)(B), 119 Stat. 231, 310 (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(4)). The Act provides in relevant part: Notwithstanding any other provision of law (statutory or nonstatutory), including section 2241 20 of Title 28, or any other habeas corpus provision, and sections 1361 and 1651 of such title, a petition for review filed with an appropriate court of appeals in accordance with this section shall be the sole and exclusive means for judicial review of any cause or claim under [CAT] . . . . 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(4). The Government further contends that, because Khouzam’s challenge to the DHS’s termination of his deferral of removal is a “cause or claim under [CAT],” the District Court had no jurisdiction to consider it. The District Court, seeking to avoid constitutional questions, determined that the jurisdiction-stripping provision did not apply because Khouzam was challenging a termination decision by the DHS, rather than an order for removal that could be subject to a petition for review. Khouzam v. Hogan, 497 F. Supp. 2d at 623. We disagree with the District Court’s conclusion. In the REAL ID Act, Congress provided precisely what had been lacking in the statutory provisions at issue in St. Cyr — a clear statement within the legislation itself explicitly depriving the judiciary of habeas jurisdiction. IIRIRA made no reference to “habeas corpus” or section 2241, while 8 U.S.C § 1252(a)(4) refers specifically to both. Moreover, the House Conference Report accompanying the REAL ID Act indicates that section 106 was crafted using St. Cyr as a roadmap. See H.R. Rep. No. 109-72, at 173-75 (2005) (Conf. Rep.). This is helpful, and consideration of it is, we believe, permissible in light of 21 Boumediene v. Bush, 128 S. Ct. 2229 (2008). There, the Supreme Court deemed it appropriate for a court of appeals to consider legislative history indicating that habeas-stripping provisions of the Military Commissions Act (“MCA”) were crafted to foreclose an avenue for review the Court had previously relied on in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006). Id. at 2243. The Court in Boumediene reasoned that the MCA must be interpreted to deprive habeas jurisdiction if the “ongoing dialogue between and among the branches of Government is to be respected.” Id. at 2243-44. We likewise conclude that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(4) comports with St. Cyr, and precludes the District Court from exercising jurisdiction over Khouzam’s habeas petition.8 Khouzam’s habeas petition challenges the Government’s termination of his deferral of removal based on diplomatic assurances. The Government prompted Khouzam’s petition by invoking its diplomatic assurance authority under the CAT regulations. We find that litigation over the Government’s use of this CAT authority is appropriately deemed to fall within the 8 As discussed below, we also reach a different conclusion than the District Court by concluding that the DHS’s decision to terminate Khouzam’s deferral was a final order of removal, and thus subject to our jurisdiction through Khouzam’s petition for review. 22 broad ambit of “any cause or claim under [CAT].” 9 We therefore conclude that the habeas-stripping provision of section 1252(a)(4) applies to Khouzam’s petition. Because, as discussed below, Khouzam’s petition for review affords an alternative avenue for review, we need not consider whether the provision violates the Suspension Clause. See U.S. Const. Article I, section 9 (“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”) Accordingly, we conclude that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain Khouzam’s habeas petition, and will vacate its order. 9 As we discuss in Note 13 infra, we reach a different conclusion with regard to 8 C.F.R. § 1208(c)(3), which requires an IJ, the BIA, or an asylum officer to cease considering an “alien’s claim for protection under [CAT]” once the Government proffers diplomatic assurances. (emphasis added). By challenging the Government’s use of diplomatic assurances, an alien is not asserting his or her own claim for protection under CAT, but is instead rebutting the use of a removal tool by the Government. While we conclude that Khouzam’s habeas petition falls within “any cause or claim under [CAT],” and thus within 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(4), we also conclude that a challenge to diplomatic assurances falls outside the narrower scope of an “alien’s claim for protection” under 8 C.F.R. § 1208(c)(3). 23 B. Jurisdiction Over Khouzam’s Petition for Review The Government argues that the DHS’s decision to terminate Khouzam’s deferral of removal is not a final order of removal, and thus this Court has no jurisdiction to consider that decision through Khouzam’s petition for review. Alternatively, the Government argues that the petition for review, even if permissible, should have been filed in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Khouzam contends that 8 U.S.C. § 1252 should be interpreted to provide jurisdiction over his petition for review due to the serious constitutional questions that would otherwise arise. As the Supreme Court noted in St. Cyr, we must avoid construing a statute in a manner that “would raise serious constitutional problems,” if an alternative interpretation that would avoid such problems is “fairly possible.” 533 U.S. at 300 (citations and internal quotations omitted). Furthermore, Khouzam contends that forum selection is non-jurisdictional and this Court should exercise its discretion to retain the case. We agree with Khouzam. We conclude that 8 U.S.C. § 1252 can, and accordingly must, be fairly interpreted to provide jurisdiction over his petition for review. Furthermore, we agree that forum selection here is a matter of venue, and that it is appropriate for us to retain the case under the circumstances. The Supreme Court has firmly established that a statute denying an alien the ability to test the legality of the alien’s detention through a habeas petition is subject to constitutional scrutiny, and, upon failing such scrutiny, may be invalidated as 24 an unconstitutional suspension of the writ. See Boumediene, 128 S. Ct. at 2262, 2274. The Supreme Court further instructs us that the Suspension Clause is not implicated so long as Congress provides an “adequate and effective” alternative to habeas review. Swain v. Pressley, 430 U.S. 372, 381 (1977); accord Boumediene, 128 S. Ct. at 2262; St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 314 n.38. Without question, serious constitutional questions would be raised if Khouzam were afforded no alternative to the habeas review denied by 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(4). We have held that “there is no question” that a petition for review with a court of appeals, under the current statutory regime, provides an alien an adequate substitute to habeas review. Kolkevich v. Att’y Gen., 501 F.3d 323, 332 (3d Cir. 2007). Other courts of appeal have reached the same conclusion. See, e.g., Singh v. Mukasey, 533 F.3d 1103, 1106-08 (9th Cir. 2008); Ruiz-Martinez v. Mukasey, 516 F.3d 102, 114 (2d Cir. 2008); Mohamed v. Gonzales, 477 F.3d 522, 526 (8th Cir. 2007); Alexandre v. U.S. Att’y Gen., 452 F.3d 1204, 1206 (11th Cir. 2006). Therefore, so long as it is “fairly possible” for us to conclude that we have jurisdiction over Khouzam’s petition for review, we will do so to avoid the serious constitutional questions that would be raised if Khouzam lacked any judicial forum in which to challenge his removal. We find no tension between this interpretive approach and the legislative history of the habeas-stripping provision. The House Conference Report that accompanied the REAL ID 25 Act plainly states that the Act “does not eliminate judicial review.” H.R. Rep. No. 109-72, at 174. Rather, “the overall effect of the proposed reforms is to give every alien a fair opportunity to obtain judicial review while restoring order and common sense to the judicial review process.” Id. at 175. The Report indicates that Congress was fully aware of the constitutional pitfalls of stripping habeas jurisdiction, and sought to avoid them entirely in crafting the provision codified in 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(4): [S]ection 106 would give every alien one day in the court of appeals, satisfying constitutional concerns. The Supreme Court has held that in supplanting the writ of habeas corpus with an alternative scheme, Congress need only provide a scheme which is an “adequate and effective” substitute for habeas corpus. See Swain v. Pressley, 430 U.S. 372, 381 (1977). Indeed, in St. Cyr itself, the Supreme Court recognized that “C ongress could, w ithout raising any constitutional questions, provide an adequate substitute through the courts of appeals.” St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 314 n.38 (emphasis added). By placing all review in the courts of appeals, [the REAL ID Act] would provide an “adequate and effective” alternative to habeas corpus. 26 Id. Since section 1252(a)(4) provides that a petition for review under section 1252 is the exclusive alternative to habeas review, our task is to determine whether we have jurisdiction to entertain Khouzam’s petition under that authority. We have previously held that section 1252 only confers jurisdiction on us to review “final orders of removal.” Obale v. Att’y Gen., 453 F.3d 151, 158 & n.6 (3d Cir. 2006) (synthesizing the relevant subsections of 8 U.S.C. § 1252); see 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252(a)(1), (b). We must therefore decide whether it is fairly possible for us to determine that the DHS’s decision to terminate Kouzam’s deferral of removal is a final order of removal. This inquiry requires us to consider first whether the decision was an order of removal, and, if so, whether that order was final. Congress did not provide a definition for an “order of removal.” Congress did, however, supply a definition for “order of deportation.” See 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(47)(A). In other contexts, this circuit and others have used the terms “deportation” and “deportable” interchangeably with the terms “removal” and “removable.” See Kolkevich, 501 F.3d at 326 n.2; Obale, 453 F.3d at 160; Viracha v. Mukasey, 518 F.3d 511, 513-14 (2d Cir. 2008); Lolong v. Gonzales, 484 F.3d 1173, 1177 n.2 (9th Cir. 2007); Sosa-Valenzuela v. Gonzales, 483 F.3d 1140, 1144 n.5 (10th Cir. 2007). By substituting the respective terms into the statutory definition of an “order of deportation,” we have previously deemed an “order of removal” to be an “order 27 . . . concluding that the alien is [removable] or ordering [removal].” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(47); Obale, 452 F.3d at 160. Seeing no reason to reconsider this approach here, we apply the definition to the DHS’s decision. On February 24, 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a ruling by which Khouzam was granted deferral of removal. With that deferral in effect, the Government had no authority to remove Khouzam to Egypt. The DHS subsequently informed Khouzam on May 29, 2007 that, on the basis of diplomatic assurances from Egypt, it decided to terminate the deferral of removal and that Khouzam was accordingly subject to imminent removal. Moreover, a declaration by the ICE dated May 30, 2007, indicates that the ICE “arrested and detained Mr. Khouzam on May 29, 2007, in preparation for enforcing Mr. Khouzam’s final order of removal.” (JA 283.) Thus, the decision of the DHS to terminate Khouzam’s deferral of removal made him eligible for, and apparently subject to, imminent removal to Egypt. We therefore conclude that the DHS’s decision was an “order of removal” under section 1252. The Government asserts that the BIA’s order of March 7, 2002 denying Khouzam’s applications for asylum and withholding of removal is an order of removal that will remain in effect regardless of any ruling on deferral. While this observation may well be correct, it has no bearing on whether the DHS’s termination of deferral may also qualify as an order of removal. We find nothing to suggest that an alien may be 28 subject to only one order of removal at a time. Furthermore, we see no reason why a termination of CAT relief should be treated any differently for jurisdictional purposes from an initial denial of CAT relief, which we regularly review as an order of removal. See, e.g., Pierre v. Att’y Gen., 528 F.3d 180 (3d Cir. 2008) (en banc). Our reasoning is in accord with the Second Circuit’s recent ruling in Ali v. Mukasey, 529 F.3d 478 (2d Cir. 2008), where the court vacated a termination of deferral of removal without raising any distinction between the denial of CAT relief and the termination of deferral as to CAT relief. Id. at 488. The Government also contends that Khouzam challenged his March 7, 2002 order of removal before the Second Circuit and, under Bonhometre v. Gonzales, 414 F.3d 442 (3d Cir. 2005), aliens are limited “to one bite of the apple with regard to challenging an order of removal.” Id. at 446. The problem with this argument is that the DHS handed Khouzam a new apple when it decided to terminate his deferral of removal. The DHS decision at issue here is a new order for removal that has never been the subject of a petition for review. Having determined that the DHS’s decision was an order of removal, we next consider whether it is fairly possible to conclude that the order was “final.” Congress provided no statutory definition to establish when an order for removal becomes “final.” Here, the substitution of “removal” for “deportation” into existing statutory definitions is less helpful. 29 Congress provided that an order for “deportation” shall become final upon the earlier of- (i) a determination by the [BIA] affirming such order; or (ii) the expiration of the period in which the alien is permitted to seek review of such order by the [BIA]. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(47)(B). The BIA never ruled on the DHS decision, nor was Khouzam afforded any opportunity to raise the matter before any adjudicative body. Indeed, this is a central concern raised by Khouzam in his substantive arguments. While we found the deportation definition to be helpful above, it does not restrict us. First, even if “removal” were identical in meaning to “deportation” under the statute, the definition does not expressly exclude other triggers for finality. Moreover, it appears that Congress did not intend an order of deportation to be wholly synonymous with an order of removal, but rather that orders for deportation are a subset of orders for removal. For instance, section 309(d)(2) of the IIRIRA provides that “[f]or purposes of carrying out the [INA] . . . any reference in law to an order for removal shall be deemed to include a reference to an order of exclusion and deportation or an order of deportation.” Pub. L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (1996) (emphasis 30 added). Thus, the definition for finality of deportation orders does not control our analysis of the finality of an order of removal.10 Lacking a statutory definition, we can nonetheless easily determine that the DHS’s order of removal was “final” through a common sense application of the term’s plain meaning. The Government itself claims that Khouzam was subject to imminent removal once the DHS decided to terminate the deferral of removal. Thus, the Government argues that the DHS’s termination decision was final under the relevant statutory scheme. Moreover, we again note that the ICE itself stated that it “arrested and detained Mr. Khouzam . . . in preparation for enforcing Mr. Khouzam’s final order of removal.” (JA 283.) Clearly, Khouzam was going to be removed, and that was final. We therefore conclude that the DHS’s decision to terminate Khouzam’s deferral of removal was effectively a final order of removal, and thus subject to our review under section 1252. 10 Neither is our analysis controlled by the regulatory definition of finality for “[a]n order of removal made by [an] immigration judge” provided in 8 C.F.R. § 1241.1. This definition is inapplicable because no IJ passed on the order for removal at issue in the instant case. Nothing in this regulation establishes that an immigration judge must be the exclusive source for an order of removal. 31 The Government argues that, even if the DHS decision could be raised in a petition for review, we lack jurisdiction because a “petition for review shall be filed with the court of appeals for the judicial circuit in which the immigration judge completed the proceedings.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(2). The Government notes that no IJ conducted any proceedings in our judicial circuit. In fact, as Khouzam argues, no IJ in any circuit even participated in the decision to terminate removal. However, section 1252(b)(2) is a non-jurisdictional venue provision. Bonhometre, 414 F.3d at 446 (citing Nwaokolo v. INS, 314 F.3d 303, 306 n.2 (7th Cir. 2002)). In Bonhometre, we exercised jurisdiction over petitions for review despite the fact that proceedings occurred within the First Circuit’s jurisdiction. Id. We explained that, “given that this case has been thoroughly briefed and argued before us, and given that [the alien] has waited a long time for the resolution of his claims, we believe it would be a manifest injustice to now transfer this case to another court for duplicative proceedings.” Id. For the reasons stated in Bonhometre, and the possible lack of any alternative forum, we retain Khouzam’s petition for review.