COVID-19 Summary: In this case filed April 7, 2020, after the COVID-19 outbreak, 65 civil immigration detainees at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility requested habeas and injunctive relief in the form of immediate interim release from detention. A class was certified on June 8. No outcome yet.
On April 7, 2020, 65 individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility (ICE) filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the Superintendent of the Plymouth County Correctional Facility (PCCF). The plaintiffs claimed that the health and safety measures being taken by PCCF were insufficient to curb the spread of the virus and protect the health and safety of detainees within the facility. Initially the lawsuit was filed pro se, and plaintiffs sought emergency release under under 8 U.S.C. § 1226. The plaintiffs were later represented as a putative class by the ACLU National Prison Project, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, Boston University School of Law's Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program, and private counsel, plaintiffs sued under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question), 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (habeas jurisdiction), and Article I, Section 9, clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution (the Suspension Clause) for habeas, injunctive, and declaratory relief, including release from custody. Judge Allison D. Burroughs was assigned to the case.
An emergency amended petition was filed on April 13 by the ACLU on behalf of only one of the plaintiffs, Wilmer Ruben Espinal Alvarado, however ACLU counsel stated in a notice that the legal evidence and argument submitted could aid in the court's consideration of the other 64 claims. The defendant filed motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim for both petitions on April 15 and 16.
In a separate action, on April 29, Espinal Alvarado was ordered to be released unless he received a bond hearing in seven days. Docket No. 1:20-cv-10309-PBS. Espinal Alvarado subsequently filed a stipulation of dismissal for his individual claims.
On May 5, Judge Burroughs dismissed 20 plaintiffs from the action and denied defendant's motion to dismiss, finding that habeas relief was available to plaintiffs because they were seeking release from confinement. On May 5, plaintiffs filed a motion to amend the petition and to certify the class. The following day, Judge Burroughs issued an order that required defendants to notify the court when a named plaintiffs was removed, transferred, or released from PCCF.
On May 26, the ACLU filed an amended class action complaint on behalf of a putative class requesting habeas and injunctive relief. The plaintiffs alleged that the conditions of civil detention during COVID-19 at PCCF exposed them to a substantial risk of serious harm in violation of their due process rights and requested immediate interim release pending resolution of the litigation.
On June 8, Judge Burroughs certified the class as "all civil immigration detainees who are Petitioners in this action (i.e., who signed the original petition) or are otherwise presently detained in Unit C-3 at the PCCF." 2020 WL 3051778. Since the filing of the original petition, several named plaintiffs were released or transferred from PCCF, new plaintiffs have joined the case, and some have individually obtained counsel. Altogether, there were forty petitioners actively seeking relief under two separate petitions: the original petition, which was filed pro se, and the second class action petition filed by the ACLU with two identified class representatives.
Hours after the court certified the class, ICE informed several detainees in Unit C-3 that they would be transferred to a different facility in Alabama. Plaintiffs filed a motion to halt the transfer of eight of the class members which was granted by the court that day. With the exception of three detainees who were already slated for removal, the court prohibited defendants from transferring detainees without advance notice and justification to plaintiffs' counsel. The following day, Judge Burroughs issued an order requiring defendants to give the court 48 hours notice before removing a plaintiff or class member. ICE later withdrew its plans to transfer class members out of PCCF.
On June 12, plaintiffs moved for expedited bail hearings for class members and defendants again moved to dismiss the amended class petition. Between July and December, Judge Burroughs added members to the class to include new detainees that were moved into Unit C-3 and the parties continued to file status reports and discovery motions.
The case is ongoing.
Chandler Hart-McGonigle - 11/28/2020
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