Opinion ID: 204115
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts and Agency Proceedings

Text: Mr. Saysana is a native and citizen of Laos who entered the United States as a refugee in 1980. In 1990, he was convicted of indecent assault and battery in Massachusetts state court. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, three months of which were served. He was released in 1991. In 2005, Mr. Saysana again was arrested, this time for failing to register as a sex offender as required by Massachusetts law because of his 1990 offense. The charge later was dismissed, and Mr. Saysana was released from state custody. In 2007, ICE took Mr. Saysana into custody pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), and held him without bond. On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated removal proceedings, contending that Mr. Saysana's 1990 conviction qualified as an aggravated felony crime of violence, see 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(F), and rendered him removable, see id. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii). [1] The IJ held a bond redetermination hearing and ordered Mr. Saysana released on $3500 bond. Mr. Saysana posted the bond. The DHS appealed the bond decision to the BIA. In its precedent decision, Matter of Saysana, 24 I & N Dec. 602 (BIA 2008), the Board concluded that the mandatory detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c) applied to any alien with a qualifying conviction who was released from any criminal custody after the effective date of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), Pub.L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-546 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 8 U.S.C.), here October 8, 1998. See infra note 2. In the Board's view, because Mr. Saysana had been released from state custody in 2005, he was subject to the mandatory detention requirement, even though the charge that formed the basis for his 2005 arrest, failure to register as a sex offender, was not the crime that formed the basis for his removal proceedings. After the BIA reversed the IJ's bond decision, ICE took Mr. Saysana back into custody. Mr. Saysana then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.