Mehmood v. United States Attorney General
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:19-cv-06422
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Mehmood v. United States Attorney General, Judge Rogers transferred the detention challenge to the Southern District of Florida because Mehmood was confined there.
Yasir Mehmood, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee challenging his custody while awaiting removal, and the federal courts handling his petition.
What happened
Yasir Mehmood, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, filed a self-represented petition challenging his custody while awaiting removal. He filed it in the Northern District of California.
The court ruled that a petition challenging present physical custody generally must be filed in the district where the person is confined. Because Mehmood was held in Miami, the court found that jurisdiction did not lie in California and transferred the case to the Southern District of Florida.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the transfer under federal law and directed the clerk to terminate pending motions in the California court and send the entire file to Florida. The order did not decide whether Mehmood’s detention was lawful.
The detailed version
- Mehmood v. United States Attorney General · No. 4:19-cv-06422
- Yvonne Rogers
- Nov. 22, 2019
Background
Yasir Mehmood, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee held at the Krome Service Processing Center in Miami, Florida, filed a self-represented petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. He challenged the legality of his custody while awaiting removal from the United States. He filed the petition in the Northern District of California and cited several connections to California, including a pending petition for review in the Ninth Circuit, events related to his criminal conviction, his former residence and employment, and other asserted connections.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that § 2241 is the proper type of petition for challenging detention pending removal. It then relied on the rule that a person challenging present physical custody must file the petition in the federal district where the person is confined. Mehmood was confined in Miami, which is within the Southern District of Florida. The court therefore concluded that jurisdiction did not lie in the Northern District of California.
The court also rejected Mehmood’s assertion that he could not receive a fair hearing in the Southern District of Florida because he offered no plausible facts showing bias there. The court did not decide the legality of his detention or any other underlying issue.
Disposition
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), the court ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in the interests of justice. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also directed the clerk to terminate all pending motions as no longer pending in the Northern District of California and to transfer the entire file.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.