UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 20-7028 YEISON LEON ORTIZ, Petitioner - Appellant, v. ALEJANDRO N. MAYORKAS, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; MATTHEW T. ALBENCE, Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; HENRY LUCERO, Executive Associate Direction, Enforcement and Removal; FRANCISCO MADRIGAL, Baltimore Field Office Director; JACK KAVANAGH, Director of Howard County Detention Center, Respondents - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Ellen L. Hollander, Senior District Judge. (1:20-cv-01222-ELH) Argued: December 9, 2021 Decided: February 28, 2022 Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, NIEMEYER, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished opinion. Chief Judge Gregory wrote the opinion, in which Judge Niemeyer and Judge Quattlebaum joined. ARGUED: Timothy William Davis, LAW OFFICE OF TIMOTHY W. DAVIS, LLC, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Nicole Patrice Grant, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Acting Assistant Attorney General, William C. Peachey, Director, William C. Silvis, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. GREGORY, Chief Judge: Yeison Leon Ortiz entered the United States as a minor, and though he was later ordered removable, he remained in the U.S and was ordered removed in absentia. Several years later, Ortiz was arrested for criminal charges and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). Though the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) signed a stay-of- removal order minutes before his deportation, neither party received notice until a few days after Ortiz was deported. Over a month after he was deported, Ortiz filed a habeas corpus petition asking the district court to compel the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to return him to the U.S. on grounds that he was wrongfully removed. The district court denied his petition holding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because Ortiz was no longer “in custody” at the time he filed his petition. Ortiz now appeals to this court. Because we find that Ortiz was plainly not “in custody” at the time he filed his habeas petition, the district court’s ruling is affirmed. I. On December 13, 2013, Ortiz, a native of Honduras, was arrested upon entering the U.S. southern border. J.A. 68. On December 14, 2013, DHS initiated removal proceedings against Ortiz, charging him as removable pursuant to § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). J.A. 51, 68, 70. On February 3, 2015, Ortiz was ordered removed in absentia after he failed to appear for a scheduled removal proceeding. J.A. 51. Ortiz remained in the U.S. for nearly seven years. 2 On January 7, 2020, Ortiz was arrested in Montgomery County, Maryland for kidnapping, armed robbery, and first-degree assault. J.A. 68. On the same date, the ICE Pacific Enforcement Response Center identified Ortiz as removable and issued a detainer. J.A. 68, 142–43. On March 6, 2020, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County dismissed the original criminal charges against Ortiz, and instead, …
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