Jose German Santos v. Warden Pike County Correctiona


PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _______________ No. 19-2663 _______________ JOSE MIGUEL GERMAN SANTOS, Appellant v. WARDEN PIKE COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY _______________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 1:18-cv-01553) District Judge: Honorable Sylvia H. Rambo _______________ Argued: May 21, 2020 Before: McKEE, BIBAS, and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges (Filed: July 7, 2020) _______________ Jonah B. Eaton Rebecca Hufstader [ARGUED] Nationalities Service Center 1216 Arch Street, 4th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 Counsel for Appellant Sarah S. Wilson [ARGUED] United States Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation 1801 4th Avenue North Birmingham, AL 35203 Allison Frayer Catherine Reno United States Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation P.O. Box 868 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 Counsel for Appellee Celso J. Perez [ARGUED] Michael K.T. Tan American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 Vanessa Stine American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania P.O. Box 60173 2 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Counsel for Amici American Civil Liberties Union Foun- dation, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, and American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania Christopher R. Healy Anthony C. Vale Pepper Hamilton 3000 Two Logan Square 18th and Arch Streets Philadelphia, PA 19103 Counsel for Amici American Immigration Lawyers Associ- ation, Federal Litigation and Appeals Clinic at Drexel University Thomas Kline School of Law, Immigration De- fense Project, Rapid Defense Network, and American Friends Service Sarah H. Paoletti University of Pennsylvania School of Law Transnational Legal Clinic 3501 Sansom Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 Counsel for Amicus International Law Professors and Hu- man Rights Clinicians 3 _______________ OPINION OF THE COURT _______________ BIBAS, Circuit Judge. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), the Government must detain cer- tain criminal aliens pending their removal proceedings, even if they were lawfully present in the United States. Jose German Santos, a lawful permanent resident, was detained under that statute and has now been imprisoned for more than two-and-a- half years. Because his detention has become unreasonable, he has a due process right to a bond hearing, at which the Govern- ment must justify his continued detention by clear and convinc- ing evidence. We will thus reverse and remand. I. BACKGROUND A. German Santos’s arrest and detention German Santos, a native of the Dominican Republic, be- came a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2006. In late 2017, he pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania state court to possessing marijuana with intent to deliver it. If that crime is an “aggravated felony” under immigration law, then he is re- movable. 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii). And immigration law defines “illicit trafficking in a controlled substance” as such a crime. Id. § 1101(a)(43)(B). So in December 2017, immigration officials arrested Ger- man Santos. They took him to the Pike County Correctional Facility to await a decision in his removal proceedings. They 4 did so under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), which requires the Govern- ment to detain aliens convicted of certain crimes ...

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