COVID-19 Summary: This is a habeas petition filed on behalf of immigrant detainees in Texas, seeking release from detention due to COVID-19. The court denied to enter any relief for the plaintiffs on July 6, 2020. Later, the plaintiffs were released and the court dismissed the case on July 31.

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This petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed on June 23, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Represented by private counsel, the petitioners were immigrant detainees held at the Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe, Texas. They brought this claim against Acting Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE Field Office Director Patrick Contreras, Attorney General William Barr, and Facility Warden Randy Tate. The petitioners were three Cuban citizens and one Honduran citizen. As their home countries were not accepting deportees from the U.S., they were held in ICE custody for a prolonged period of time. They argued that the Joe Corley Detention Facility was doing an inadequate job at protecting against the spread of COVID-19, violating their Fifth Amendment Due Process rights and habeas corpus. The petitioners requested a writ of habeas corpus or, in the alternative, injunctive relief releasing the detainees immediately.

The court rejected all of the plaintiffs' requests on July 6, 2020. The court held that the petitioners can only use habeas corpus to protest the fact of their confinement or the duration of their confinement, but not the conditions of their confinement. Regarding injunctive relief, the court found that petitioners were not likely to succeed on the merits of the case, and so it refused to grant the injunctive relief.

On July 31, the plaintiffs filed a notice of voluntary dismissal because each of the plaintiffs had been released from Joe Corley Detention Facility. The court granted the plaintiffs notice of dismissal that same day. The case is now closed.

Jack Hibbard - 08/20/2020


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