Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Washington state have said the increase in immigration-related habeas corpus cases has left them without sufficient resources to respond to each case.
Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Floyd said in an Oct. 26 letter to Judge David Estudillo of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington that the high volume of petitions from immigrants seeking to challenge the legality of their detention had strained federal prosecutors’ ability to respond to other civil litigation. The letter was attached to a Nov. 7 order by Judge Kymberly Evanson granting a habeas petition.
“The large volumes of petitions that are being filed, often copying from other petitions, has severely impacted the government’s ability to respond to specific petitions that require appreciable attorney time from the [U.S. attorney’s office] to investigate and analyze,” he wrote.
Floyd said that entering appearances in each case often leads to “protracted litigation,” consuming prosecutors’ substantial time even after a petitioner has been released or granted a bond hearing. He noted that prosecutors are often required to file status reports, supplemental briefs, and responses to motions.
He wrote that his office did not currently have the resources to keep entering prosecutors’ appearances in every one of the dozens of immigration habeas petitions filed each week.
To conserve resources, Floyd wrote, his office would no longer take responsibility for defending Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its employees in many habeas cases, though it would continue to review petitions and scheduling orders, forward the orders to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and enter appearances and file responses where deemed appropriate. He did not specify how many cases would be affected.
Floyd said the court may proceed to “rule on the merits of the petition” based on the papers filed by the petitioner if his office did not file a notice of appearance within seven court days after a standard scheduling order was issued.
Floyd also noted that his office retained the right to enter an appearance in court on behalf of the government whenever it deemed it necessary.
“This change is expected to significantly streamline and expedite the resolution of most habeas petitions, providing more discretion to the District Court,” he wrote.
Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and tightened the country’s vetting procedures for foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled last month that the administration can hold illegal immigrants in detention without bond hearings. The three immigrants in the case had argued that keeping them detained without a hearing violated their due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
The court ruled that illegal immigrants do not gain constitutional protections against indefinite detention without a bond hearing until they have been legally admitted, even if they have been in the United States for a period of time.
The Fifth Circuit had already ruled in favor of the administration in a separate case, as did the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Nine circuits have sided with arguments that the illegal immigrants are entitled to bond hearings.
The Supreme Court is set to resolve the circuit split.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the number of appeals courts that rejected the administration’s detention of illegal immigrants without bond hearings. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
