Court Opinion

ID: 9482000
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:37:19.716161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:42.212169
License: Public Domain

RYMER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I agree that Congress has said what it expects the INS to do, pretty clearly. But I disagree that Soler has made out a clear claim to relief on account of a duty owed to him, as the Mandamus Act requires. 28 U.S.C. § 1361; see Nova Stylings, Inc. v. Ladd, 695 F.2d 1179, 1180 (9th Cir.1983). Federal prisoners were not the intended beneficiaries of section 701 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 8 U.S.C. § 1252(i); the legislative history indicates that states, and overcrowded prisons, were. See 132 Cong.Rec. H9794-95 (daily ed. Oct. 9, 1986), S16909 (daily ed. Oct. 17, 1986); Gonzalez v. INS, 867 F.2d 1108, 1110 (8th Cir.1989). For this reason, I would affirm.
Unlike the majority, I also would not try to fashion a claim under the Administrative Procedure Act. Soler’s petition does not assert an APA claim, and we did not ask the government to brief the issue. While we are certainly obliged to construe pro se pleadings liberally, that obligation does not require us to go off on an untested theory. We could have appointed counsel for Soler and invited a response from the INS. Given that we have done neither, I respectfully dissent.