Case: 21-40034 Document: 00516111074 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED November 30, 2021 No. 21-40034 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Gloria Carolina Manzo-Hernandez; Victor Zepata- Jasso; Moises Amadeo Mancia-Mendoza; Mercy Rocio Duchi-Vargas; Jatzeel Antonio Cuevas-Cortes, Petitioners—Appellants, versus Assistant Warden Juan Saucedo, Respondent—Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 5:20-CV-95 Before Stewart, Ho, and Engelhardt, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Petitioners-Appellants Gloria Carolina Manzo-Hernandez, Victor Zepata-Jasso, Moises Amadeo Mancia-Mendoza, Mercy Rocio Duchi- Vargas, and Jatzeel Antonio Cuevas-Cortes are undocumented immigrants * Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4. Case: 21-40034 Document: 00516111074 Page: 2 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 No. 21-40034 who were detained as material witnesses at the La Salle County Regional Detention Center in Encinal, Texas. Petitioners filed a habeas petition on behalf of themselves and a putative class of similarly-situated individuals for injunctive and declaratory relief, seeking, respectively and among other rulings, their release from custody and a declaration that they were unlawfully detained. The district court denied their motion for class certification and habeas petition. It also dismissed their request for a declaratory judgment without prejudice. Petitioners appealed. By the time they did so, however, Petitioners were no longer in custody. Accordingly, we hold that this case is moot and therefore dismiss this appeal. I. FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY According to the operative petition, Petitioners were undocumented immigrants arrested by United States Border Patrol agents. Although Petitioners were never charged with a crime, magistrate judges of the Laredo division detained them between January 2020 and March 2020 as material witnesses so that they could testify in criminal prosecutions for human trafficking. Before they were detained, law enforcement officers submitted nearly identical affidavits for every alien. Specifically, each affidavit requested “designation and detention as [a] material witness[] under 18 U.S.C. Section 3144” 1 and that the alien be held on $25,000 bond “pending disposition” of the criminal matter in which the individual was detained to provide testimony. Petitioners were then detained without counsel after making a short “initial appearance” in which “no individual findings were made.” Petitioners have not appeared in court since their initial appearance 1 Section 3144 states, “If it appears from an affidavit filed by a party that the testimony of a person is material in a criminal proceeding, and if it is shown that it may become impracticable to secure the presence of the person by subpoena, a judicial officer may order the arrest of the person[.]” § 3144. 2 Case: 21-40034 Document: 00516111074 Page: 3 Date Filed: 11/30/2021 No. 21-40034 and the extended detention has “taken a substantial toll on their mental, emotional, and physical health[,]” all exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Petitioners filed a habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 against Omar Juarez, …
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