Augustin B. v. McAleenan
- Eric Tostrud
- 0:19-cv-00296
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 5
In Augustin B. v. McAleenan, Judge Thorson recommended dismissal without prejudice as moot and denied three motions as moot after Augustin B. was removed.
Augustin B., who sought release from immigration custody, and the government respondents named in the case. The petition and three related motions were denied as moot after his removal from the United States.
What happened
Augustin B. filed a petition asking the court to order his release from immigration custody, arguing that his detention was unlawful because his removal was not reasonably foreseeable. While the case was pending, immigration officials removed him from the United States on July 30, 2019.
The court explained that federal courts can decide only ongoing disputes in which they can still provide effective relief. Because Augustin B. was no longer in immigration custody, an order requiring his release could no longer help him, so the petition had become moot.
In Augustin B. v. McAleenan, Judge Thorson recommended that the petition be denied as moot and the case be dismissed without prejudice. She also denied as moot Augustin B.’s two motions to reopen the case and his motion to appoint counsel.
The detailed version
- Augustin B. v. McAleenan · No. 0:19-cv-00296
- Eric Tostrud
- Aug. 13, 2019
Background
Augustin B., representing himself, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 seeking release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. He relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Zadvydas v. Davis and argued that continued detention was not permitted if his removal was no longer reasonably foreseeable.
An immigration judge had ordered Augustin B.’s removal on December 27, 2005. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him on October 4, 2018. While the petition was pending, the government reported that immigration officials removed him from the United States by charter flight on July 30, 2019.
Mootness analysis
The court explained that Article III of the Constitution limits federal courts to actual, ongoing cases and controversies. A case becomes moot when the issues no longer remain live and the court cannot provide effective relief. Augustin B. sought release from immigration custody, but he was no longer in that custody after his removal. The court therefore concluded that a release order could not provide the relief requested and that the petition was moot.
Disposition
The report and recommendation recommends that Augustin B.’s petition under § 2241 be denied as moot, that the action be dismissed without prejudice, and that judgment be entered accordingly.
The accompanying order separately denied as moot Augustin B.’s Motion to Reopen Case (Doc. No. 19), Motion to Reopen (Doc. No. 39), and Motion to Appoint Counsel (Doc. No. 41). The court stated that each motion was derivative of the request for release from custody and was therefore also moot.
The document states that the report and recommendation was not directly appealable to the Eighth Circuit. It allowed specific written objections within fourteen days under the cited local rule.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.