Opinion ID: 3213240
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Approaches of Other Circuits

Text: Courts throughout the country have adopted one of two general approaches for evaluating when a criminal alien’s due process rights are violated by mandatory civil detention without a bond hearing under § 1226(c). We refer to these as the “bright-line” and “case-by-case” approaches. 30 Case: 14-11421 Date Filed: 06/15/2016 Page: 31 of 79 The Second and Ninth Circuits use the bright-line approach. The Ninth Circuit requires that, at the six-month mark, the government shall provide all criminal aliens detained under § 1226(c) with a bond hearing. See Rodriguez v. Robbins, 804 F.3d 1060, 1065, 1079-81 (9th Cir. 2015), petition for cert. filed sub. nom., Jennings v. Rodriguez, 84 U.S.L.W. 3562 (U.S. Mar. 25, 2016) (No. 151204). The Second Circuit also adopted the six-month rule, reasoning that it eliminates “inconsistency and confusion” and ensures that “similarly situated detainees receive similar treatment.” Lora, 804 F.3d at 614-16. At the bond hearing stage, the Ninth Circuit requires the government to “prove by clear and convincing evidence that [a criminal] alien is a flight risk or a danger to the community to justify denial of bond.” Rodriguez, 804 F.3d at 1087 (quotation marks omitted). The Second Circuit requires the government, at the bond hearing before an IJ, to carry the burden of proof to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the criminal alien is a flight risk or a danger to the community. Lora, 804 F.3d at 616. For the case-by-case approach, we look to the First, Third, and Sixth Circuits, which have rejected a bright-line rule and held that whether detention of a criminal alien has become unreasonable depends on the factual circumstances of the case. Those courts have held that, because each criminal alien’s removal proceedings raises a unique set of facts and issues, making the length of the 31 Case: 14-11421 Date Filed: 06/15/2016 Page: 32 of 79 proceedings unpredictable, it would be unwise to set a universal or bright-line timeline for when mandatory detention shifts from being reasonable to unreasonable. See Reid, 819 F.3d at 496 (rejecting a bright-line six-month rule on multiple grounds, including the fact that the Zadvydas six-month period “was predicated on there being no foreseeable hope of removal,” the detention was “potentially permanent,” and “there were simply no metrics by which to judge just how much longer towards eternity could be considered ‘reasonable,’” warranting a bright-line rule (quotation marks omitted)); Diop, 656 F.3d at 232-33 (noting that the inquiry into whether detention has become unreasonable “will necessarily be a fact-dependent inquiry that will vary depending on individual circumstances” and “declin[ing] to establish a universal point at which detention will always be considered unreasonable”); Ly, 351 F.3d at 271 (“A bright-line time limitation . . . would not be appropriate . . . . [C]ourts must examine the facts of each case[] to determine whether there has been unreasonable delay in concluding removal proceedings.”). These three circuit courts instruct that a criminal alien may file a § 2241 petition when he contends that his removal proceedings and continued civil detention without a bond hearing have become protracted and thus violate the Due Process Clause. See Reid, 819 F.3d at 498-99; Diop, 656 F.3d at 233, 235; Ly, 351 F.3d at 272-73. Then, a federal court, examining the individual circumstances of 32 Case: 14-11421 Date Filed: 06/15/2016 Page: 33 of 79 the case, will decide whether the criminal alien’s continued detention has become unreasonable. See Reid, 819 F.3d at 500-01; Diop, 656 F.3d at 234; Ly, 351 F.3d at 272-73. Under this configuration, if the district court grants the criminal alien’s § 2241 petition, it then orders the government to provide an opportunity for the alien to obtain bond. At that point, the Third Circuit shifts the burden of proof from the petitioner to the government. See Diop, 656 F.3d at 233. The Third Circuit ruled that there must be a bond hearing “at which the Government bears the burden of proving that continued detention is necessary to fulfill the purposes of the detention statute.” Id. The Sixth Circuit has not explicitly defined the mechanism by which the government must make an individualized bond determination; but, in Ly, it affirmed a district court order that directed the agency to hold a hearing. 351 F.3d at 266, 273. The First Circuit also affirmed a district court order directing the government to hold a bond hearing. Reid, 819 F.3d at 491-92. The First Circuit’s Reid decision contains the most extensive discussion of why an individualized case-by-case approach adheres more closely to the relevant legal precedent. The First Circuit reasoned that, “while the Second and Ninth Circuits claim to have read an implicit ‘reasonableness limitation’ into § 1226(c), we think it more accurate to say that they have simply read an implicit ‘six-month 33 Case: 14-11421 Date Filed: 06/15/2016 Page: 34 of 79 expiration’ into § 1226(c).” Id. at 497. The First Circuit viewed “Demore as implicitly foreclosing our ability to adopt a firm six-month rule” because “[i]n Demore, the Supreme Court declined to state any specific time limit in a case involving a detainee who had already been held for approximately six months.” Id. In addition, “[t]he Demore Court also briefly discussed facts specific to the detainee, such as his request for a continuance of his removal hearing.” Id. (citing Demore, 538 U.S. at 530-31 & n.15, 123 S. Ct. at 1721 & n.15). The First Circuit concluded that, “[t]aken together, Zadvydas, Demore, and the inherent nature of the ‘reasonableness’ inquiry weigh heavily against adopting a six-month presumption of unreasonableness.” Id. It added that the practical advantages of the bright-line approach are “persuasive justifications for legislative or administrative intervention, not judicial decree.” Id. at 498.