DOJ giving migrants 'no less than 12 hours' to indicate they intend to contest AEA removal
The Trump administration is giving individuals who are given a notice of removal under the Alien Enemies Act "no less than 12 hours" to indicate their intent to file a habeas petition to contest their deportation, and "no less than 24 hours" to file it, according to a newly unsealed document.
The sworn declaration by Carlos Cisneros, the assistant field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was unsealed by a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas who temporarily blocked the government from deporting Venezuelans held in the El Valle Detention Center in Texas earlier this month.
"The alien is given a reasonable amount of time, and no less than 12 hours, including the ability to make a telephone call, to indicate or express an intent to file a habeas petition," Cisneros said in the declaration. "If the alien does not express any such intention, then ICE may proceed with the removal."
"If the alien does express an intent to file a habeas petition, the alien is given a reasonable amount of time, and no less than 24 hours, to actually file that petition," Cisneros said.
The Trump administration last month touched off a legal battle when it invoked the Alien Enemies Act -- an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process -- to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a "hybrid criminal state" that is invading the United States.
An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that "many" of the men deported on March 15 lack criminal records in the United States -- but said that "the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose" and "demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile."
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted the deportation of any Venezuelan held in northern Texas under the AEA after the American Civil Liberties Union filed an emergency appeal contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals without due process.
In the declaration, Cisneros said that because individuals subject to the AEA are detained for several days for removal, he said "they frequently have much more time to express an intent to file a habeas petition or to actually file such a petition."
Cisneros that ICE will not remove anyone who has filed a habeas petition while that petition is pending, though he added, "There may be fact-specific exceptional cases."
In the declaration, the ICE official also said that while the notice given to individuals is in English, it is read and explained to each individual in a language they understand.
"ICE officers are accustomed to working with aliens who do not understand English," Cisneros said.
In response to the declaration, ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said that 12 hours isn't enough.
"The government cannot plausibly claim that 12 hours is sufficient notice, which could be the reason they tried to keep it from the public and other courts addressing the notice issue, including the U.S. Supreme Court," he said.
