Extra: Judge Ordered Man Jailed by ICE Not Removed But DOJ Says He Left Voluntarily So Hearing - more here
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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 3 – A man from Mexico, in the US without papers for twenty years, was detained by ICE while walking in Brooklyn.
A habeas corpus petition was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Edgardo Ramos on February 1 signed an order that “Petitioner shall not be removed from the US absent further order of this Court.”
The case was assigned to White Plains-based Judge Kenneth M. Karas, who sent a February 3 conference - at which it emerged the petitioner, Sergio Roque Moreno, had signed for voluntary removal and left. Judge Karas was troubled and is moving toward an evidentiary hearing. Inner City Press live tweeted:
Judge Karas: My colleague Judge Edgardo Ramos signed a stay of moving out of jurisdiction, then the case was assigned to me. Government? AUSA Waterman: I understand he has signed for voluntary departure and has left. So this is moot
Judge Karas: The order of Judge Ramos says in bold, not to be removed AUSA Waterman: We could not identify this petition until this morning. No A number was provided. Judge Karas: We have no idea if this was signed voluntarily
AUSA: He accepted a voluntary departure. Petitioner’s lawyer: It would only be moot if there was relief he was not eligible for. Had the clock been reversed, he’d be eligible for cancelation of removal, maybe asylum
Judge Karas: I’m troubled. If things were said or done to coerce him to leave, he hasn’t mooted out his own petition. Why don’t we have a hearing whether or not people are in contempt of Judge Ramos’ order? Only we won’t have the main witness.
AUSA: The petitioner can choose at any time to leave. He waived his rights. The Supreme Court has explained this is a quid pro quo, the petitioner avoid certain negative consequence. Here, there’s a signature and a declaration in English and Spanish
Judge Karas: The burden to show voluntariness is on Respondents. I had another of these last week where your Office said, we just stand on our papers. If the Respondents are wrong, people are being detained without a hearing, it’s coercive
A next conference was set for February 12.
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