August.02.2012
New York litigation associate Jake Albertson recently secured an important and precedent-setting federal court win, granting our client the right to be freed from federal detention while her immigration case remains pending in court.
Our client, a 55-year-old citizen of Jamaica who has lawfully resided in the United States since 1968, had been detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more than a year without an opportunity to demonstrate whether she was eligible for release. Our client suffers from numerous disabilities as a result of being hit by a car in 2009. ICE has been trying to remove our client from the United States on the basis of six convictions for drug-related offenses between 1998 and 2006, during which time she was struggling with drug addiction.
Although her most recent arrest occurred in 2006, agents from ICE arrested her at her home early in the morning of May 16, 2011. At the time of her arrest by ICE agents, our client was residing with her sister, a U.S. citizen who is a pastor at a church, and brother-in-law, a U.S. citizen who served with the U.S. Air Force for more than 22 years. Since that time, our client has been detained in a county jail without consideration of whether she presents a flight risk or danger to the community. She is eligible for cancellation of removal and will have a merits hearing in her removal case, in which she is represented by pro bono counsel from The Legal Aid Society, on August 10, 2012.
Working with Jake, the Legal Aid Society's immigration law unit filed a habeas petition in the federal district court in New Jersey more than eight months ago seeking our client's release. Though the law favored the issuance of a favorable decision on the petition, the federal district court issued an ambiguous order that did not provide for our client’s release.
Shortly before filing a writ of mandamus with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to seek an order that the federal district court judge decide the habeas petition definitively, the judge issued an unusual order requiring a bond hearing to take place before the federal judge himself, rather than an immigration judge. In short order, Jake prepared a strong pre-hearing brief and argued for the client's release at the bond hearing. The judge granted the requested release, and the client was released to her family on her recognizance without having to post any bond.
This was only the second reported decision by a federal judge ordering an immigrant released from custody on a habeas petition such as the one filed by Jake.
New York intellectual property partner Lisa Simpson and pro bono counsel Rene Kathawala also worked with Jake on this matter.
Anyone in our New York office who is interested in representing a client in similar circumstances should contact Rene.