Court Opinion

ID: 8995825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 12:36:09.689282+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:11:02.787318
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM:
On December 3, 1991, the district court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the defendants, James Baker, III, and others from forcefully repatriating Haitians in their custody. The defendants appeal. The appeal has been expedited and is now ripe for decision on the merits.
The district court’s order granting the preliminary injunction was grounded on a finding that there was a substantial likelihood that the plaintiffs would prevail on the merits of two judicially enforceable claims:' (1) “HRC’s right of association and counsel, which arises from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution;” and (2) “the Haitian plaintiffs’ right of nonrefoulment, which arises under Article 33 of the 1967 United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.”
Ordinarily, the grant of a preliminary injunction is reviewed for abuse of discretion; however, if the trial court misapplies the law we will review and correct the error without deference to that court’s determination. Cable News Network, Inc. v. Video Monitoring Servs., Inc., 940 F.2d 1471, 1477 (11th Cir.1991).
In order to prevail on a motion for preliminary injunction, the movant has the burden of proving: (1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (2) a substantial threat of irreparable injury; (3) its own injury outweighs the injury to the nonmovant; and (4) the injunction would not disserve the public interest. Id. at 1478, Tally-Ho, Inc. v. Coast Community College Dist., 889 F.2d 1018, 1022 (11th Cir.1990).
Defendants argue that the Haitian plaintiffs in this case have no enforceable rights under Article 33 because Article 33 is not self-executing as to persons situated like the plaintiffs in this case. The individual Haitians who are plaintiffs in this case have not reached United States territory.
The language of the Protocol and the history of the United States’ accession to it leads to the conclusion that Article 33 is not self-executing and thus provides no enforceable rights to the Haitian plaintiffs in this case. (A “self-executing” international agreement is one that directly accords enforceable rights to persons without the benefit of Congressional implementation.) See Haitian Refugee Center v. Gracey, 809 F.2d 794 (D.C.Cir.1987) (Edwards, J. concurring in part and dissenting in part); Bertrand v. Sava, 684 F.2d 204 (2nd Cir.1982); Pierre v. United States, 547 F.2d 1281 (5th Cir.1977), vacated on other grounds, 434 U.S. 962, 98 S.Ct. 498, 54 L.Ed.2d 447 (1977).
Next, the defendants argue that even if the plaintiffs had a First Amendment right of access to the interdicted Haitians, the relief granted by the injunction is unrelated to the right asserted by HRC. The district court’s injunction order states as follows:
[Defendants are hereby enjoined from forcefully repatriating the individual plaintiffs or class members in their custody either until the merits of the under*1111lying action are resolved or until defendants implement and follow procedures, such as those contained in the INS Guidelines, adequate to ensure that Haitians with bona fide political asylum claims are not forced to return to Haiti in violation of Article 33 of the Protocol. To this end, within seven days defendants shall submit to the court a recital of the procedures to be followed.
The district court’s order is not merely overly broad, see United States v. Gilbert, 920 F.2d 878 (11th Cir.1991), it fails to redress the right asserted by HRC. Here, HRC asserts a right of access to the interdicted Haitians. The injunctive relief granted by the district court does not require the defendants to allow HRC access to the Haitian interdictees, it enjoins the defendants from repatriating them. Because the relief granted does not address the right of access asserted by HRC, the First Amendment claim cannot support the injunction.
Judge Hatchett, in dissent, would uphold the issuance of the preliminary injunction on the basis of the APA claim. The district court refused to grant relief on this claim. The plaintiffs do not cross-appeal. We cannot properly uphold the injunction based on the APA claim under these circumstances. Furthermore, to do so would constitute a holding by this court, on appeal, that the plaintiffs are entitled to injunctive relief on the APA claim as a matter of law.
For the foregoing reasons, the preliminary injunction issued by the district court is hereby DISSOLVED and the case is REMANDED to the district court with instructions to dismiss, on the merits, the claims predicated on Article 33.
The mandate shall issue immediately and no petition for panel rehearing will be entertained.1

. This brief opinion is filed in order to expedite disposition of the appeal. No supplemental opinion will be filed.