Gonzalez-Reyes v. Decker

CONSTANTINO GONZALEZ-REYES Petitioner, v. THOMAS DECKER, in his official capacity as Director of the New York FieldOffice of U.S. Immigrations & Customs Enforcement, CHAD WOLF,in his official capacity as Acting Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security,& CARL E. DUBOIS, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Orange County, New York, Respondents.

1:20-cv-2639-GHW

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

December 31, 2020

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

GREGORY H. WOODS, United States District Judge:

On February 27, 2020, Petitioner Constantino Gonzalez-Reyes was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") and taken into custody at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York. On March 30, 2020, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking to be released because his medical conditions placed him at high risk of serious harm from COVID-19. Respondents voluntarily released Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes shortly after he filed his habeas petition. But this was not enough for Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes. After his release, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes filed an amended petition seeking to enjoin Respondents from detaining him pending the culmination of his removal proceedings, claiming that there is no way that he can be constitutionally detained as long as COVID-19 is at large in the land. Respondents moved to dismiss the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Because the issue of whether future immigration detention at an unknown time, in an unknown place, and under unknown conditions, will violate Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' Due Process rights is not yet ripe, Respondents' motion to dismiss is GRANTED without prejudice.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Immigration Proceedings

Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes is 40 years old. He has lived in New York City for approximately 20 years. Am. Pet. for Writ of Habeas Corpus ("Am. Pet."), Dkt. No. 31 ¶ 6. On February 23, 2020, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes was arrested for a criminal offense. He was released on his own recognizance later the same day. Id. ¶ 51, n. 68. The criminal charge was later dismissed. Id. But his contact with the criminal justice system seems to have drawn the attention of ICE. Because on February 27, 2020, he was arrested by ICE at his home in Brooklyn, New York. Id.

ICE detained Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York, and "charged him as removable for being in the United States without being admitted or paroled, pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") § 212(a)(6)(A)(i)." Id. ¶¶ 6, 51, n. 68. ICE began removal proceedings against Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes. Id.

On March 10, 2020, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes appeared before an immigration judge for a master calendar and bond hearing without the assistance of counsel. Id. The bond hearing was adjourned to April 16, 2020 to allow Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes to retain counsel. Id.; see also Decl. of Deportation Officer Jaime Rodriguez ("Rodriguez Decl."), Dkt. No. 34 ¶ 7.

On March 24, 2020, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes requested that ICE release him in its discretion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Am. Pet. ¶ 56; Rodriguez Decl. ¶ 8. On March 27, 2020, he provided ICE with specific information about his medical vulnerabilities; he explained to ICE that COVID-19 presented a particular risk to him. Am. Pet. ¶ 58; Rodriguez Decl. ¶ 8. Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes suffers from a number of underlying health conditions, which, he asserts, make him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19: obesity, hypertension, a long history of smoking, and a history of respiratory issues,including chest pain and shortness of breath. Am. Pet. ¶ 50. Presumably because he had not heard an affirmative response from ICE on the 27^th, or the day after, on March 29, 2020, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes submitted his release request to "the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who handle immigration cases in the Southern District of New York." Id. ¶ 60. A representative of the office responded that they would forward his request to ICE. Id. ¶ 61.

B. Original Habeas Petition

Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes did not wait for a response. Instead, the next day, March 30, 2020, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Petition ("Pet." or "Original Petition"), Dkt. No. 4. The Original Petition argued that the conditions of Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' detention by ICE in the Orange County Jail violated the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. His claim rested on the conditions at the facility and the lack of medical care provided to him while there. Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes argued that the conditions of his detention were punitive because of the fact that the facility had inadequate COVID-19 prevention measures in place. Id. ¶¶ 88-89. Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes also claimed that Respondents acted with deliberate indifference to his urgent medical needs as a person at a high risk of serious harm from COVID-19. Id. ¶¶ 90-93. Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' Original Petition understandably focused on the conditions of his confinement, but he also advanced the sweeping, categorical argument that any "civil detention during the COVID-19 pandemic amounts to punishment." Id. ¶¶ 28-29.

The Original Petition described a number of facts that supported his claim in March of 2020—focusing on the specific conditions of his detention, from which he then sought release. The Court describes some of those facts to provide context for his request. Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' Original Petition described the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020 in immigration detention centers, jails, and prisons, both around the country and in the New York area. Id. ¶¶ 22, 37-38. The petition argued that in the Orange County Jail, where Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes was detained, it would be "nearlyimpossible to contain COVID-19," because of "the close proximity between people, rules and regulations that bar some basic disease prevention measures, and restrictions that prevent people from taking steps to protect themselves from infection, such as accessing hand sanitizer or gloves." Id. ¶ 25; see also id. ¶¶ 30, 43-45. He also described how "conditions inside the Orange County Jail ha[d] deteriorated significantly, as detainees d[id] not have access to hand sanitizer or gloves and limited access to soap, there [wa]s rarely soap in the visitors' bathroom, and the facility d[id] not have adequate cleaning supplies. Detainees use[d] the same objects and appliances (e.g., telephones, microwaves, and tables), but those objects [were] not cleaned or disinfected between uses, and detainees [were] not provided with disinfectant wipes." Id. ¶ 51.

The Original Petition also described the conditions of detention generally at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, the Original Petition referenced a February 2020 declaration submitted in another case in this District by Dr. Jaimie Meyer, an expert on infectious diseases in the context of jails and prisons. Id. ¶ 40. Dr. Meyer noted that COVID-19 risk in detention was "significantly higher than in the community, both in terms of risk of transmission, exposure, and harm to individuals who become infected." Id. Dr. Meyer asserted that at the time of her declaration, New York-area immigration detention centers were "dangerously under-equipped and ill-prepared to prevent and manage a COVID-19 outbreak, which would result in severe harm to detained individuals, jail and prison staff, and the broader community." Id. ¶ 50. Moreover, according to Dr. Meyer, in February 2020, New York-area immigration detention centers' past record on addressing individuals both with serious health needs and in need of emergency care showed that the facilities were not prepared to "identify, monitor, and treat a COVID-19 epidemic." Id.

The Original Petition also outlined Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' underlying health issues, and explained that because of these underlying health issues, he was "particularly unsafe in the jailenvironment." Id. ¶ 28. The petition detailed how "deficient medical care" was a problem in the Orange County Jail even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Id. ¶¶ 46-47. Mr. Gonzalez stated that "[a]s an individual with a long history of tobacco use and existing respiratory problems," he "is in one of the highest risk categories for severe complications and serious illness or death if he were to contract COVID-19." Id. ¶ 62. He claimed that the administrators of the facility were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs.

In his Original Petition, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes sought immediate release and an order that Respondents not re-detain him pending the culmination of his removal proceedings. Id. at 31 (Prayer for Relief ¶¶ 3, 4). That same day, Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes filed an Application for an Order to Show Cause and a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. Mot. for Order to Show Cause, Dkt. No. 5; see also Am. Pet. ¶¶ 63, 67.

C. Voluntary Release

The next day, on March 31, 2020, the Court held a hearing in response to Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' Petition. At the hearing, Respondents informed the Court that they had decided to grant Petitioner's request for discretionary release. Am. Pet. ¶ 64; Order, Dkt. No. 8. And the very next day, on April 1, 2020, ICE released Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes under a home-supervision program. Am. Pet. ¶ 65; Rodriguez Decl. ¶ 10.

The continuing conditions of Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes' supervised release restrict his movements, and require that he check in periodically.¹ But Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes is not challenging the conditions of his supervised release here. They permit him to live at home under conditions ofhis own making. The conditions of his release do not adversely affect his ability to seek treatment or care for any medical needs. He states he "has been able to take steps to avoid contracting COVID-19" and "has also been able to seek medical care for his mental and physical health needs." Am. Pet. ¶ 66.

ICE has provided reassurances to Mr. Gonzalez-Reyes that it is not planning to detain him in the near future, consistent with its voluntary...