United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 20-2117 IN RE: AIRES DA GRACA; CONROY LEWIS; CYRIL OKOLI; DARLIN ALBERTO GUILLERMO; DIMITAR DASKALOV; EDSON MARTINS; EMMANUEL LOPEZ; FLAVIO PRADO JUNIOR; FRED KAYITARE; GABRIEL DE LA PAZ; JOAO AMADO; KEITH WILLIAMS, Petitioners, v. STEVEN J. SOUZA, in his official capacity as Superintendent of the Bristol County House of Correction, Respondent, TAE D. JOHNSON, in his official capacity as Acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement;* ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security;** IMMIGRATION CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT; TODD M. LYONS, in his official capacity as Acting Director of the Boston Field Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; THOMAS M. HODGSON, in his official capacity as Bristol County Sherriff, Respondents. PETITION FOR A WRIT OF MANDAMUS TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS * Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2), Acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tae D. Johnson has been substituted for former Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Matthew T. Albence as respondent. **Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2), Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has been substituted for former Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf as respondent. [Hon. William G. Young, U.S. District Judge] Before Lynch, Selya, and Kayatta, Circuit Judges. Sameer Ahmed, with whom the Harvard Law School Crimmigration Clinic was on brief, for petitioners. Christina Parascandola, Senior Litigation Counsel, Office of Immigration Litigation, with whom Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Acting Assistant Attorney General, William C. Peachey, Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, Jeffrey S. Robins, Deputy Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, William C. Silvis, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, Michelle M. Ramus, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration Litigation, Thomas E. Kanwit, Assistant United States Attorney, and Michael Fitzgerald, Assistant United States Attorney, were on brief, for respondents. March 17, 2021 LYNCH, Circuit Judge. Petitioners are immigration detainees primarily held at the Bristol County House of Correction ("BCHOC"). Respondents include state correction officials and federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") officials who secured petitioners' detention after they were picked up, usually after commission of criminal felony offenses, and found not to be legally in the United States. Claiming that the district court erred in denying their bail applications despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the detainees petition for a writ of mandamus. We deny the petition. I. Facts and Procedural History Petitioners are class members in a habeas class action filed against ICE and certain government officials on March 27, 2020. The habeas petition requested relief for immigration detainees held at BCHOC who were "at imminent risk of contracting COVID-19, the lethal virus that is sweeping the globe and that feeds on precisely the unsafe, congregate conditions in which Plaintiffs are being held." When the habeas petition was filed, there were approximately 148 detainees held at BCHOC. See Savino v. Souza, 453 F. Supp. 3d …
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