“If developments occur during the course of adjudication that eliminate a plaintiffs personal stake in the outcome of a suit or prevent a court from being able to grant the requested relief, the case must be dismissed as moot.”
How later courts described this case
- “If developments occur during the course of adjudication that eliminate a plaintiffs personal stake in the outcome of a suit or prevent a court from being able to grant the requested relief, the case must be dismissed as moot.”
- holding that the habeas petition challenging the petitioner's continued detention by ICE was rendered moot once the petitioner was released
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
JONATHAN PENA CHARLES, Civil No. 3:21-cv-1595
Petitioner □ (Judge Mariani)
v. .
WARDEN CRAIG A. LOWE, .
Respondent .
MEMORANDUM
Background
On or about September 15, 2021, Petitioner Jonathan Pena Charles (“Petitioner”),
filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging his
continued detention by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”).
(Doc. 1). For relief, Petitioner requested immediate release from custody or a bond hearing
before an Immigration Judge. (/d. at p. 4). At the time his petition was filed, Petitioner was
detained at the Pike County Correctional Facility, in Lords Valley, Pennsylvania.
On May 20, 2021, an Immigration Judge ordered that Petitioner be removed from the
United States to the Dominican Republic. (Doc. 7-1, pp. 15-17). The Board of Immigration
Appeals affirmed the Immigration Judge’s decision on September 29, 2021. See Charles v.
Garland, et al., No. 3:22-CV-288, Doc. 5-6 (M.D. Pa.). On February 4, 2022, the Third
Circuit Court of Appeals denied his petition for review. See Pena Charles v. Att'y Gen. of
U.S., No. 21-3021, 2022 WL 337000, at *1 (3d Cir. Feb. 4, 2022).
In an effort to ascertain the custodial status of Petitioner, the Court accessed the ICE
Online Detainee Locator System, which revealed no matches for detainee Jonathan Pena
Charles.’ Petitioner is no longer in ICE custody; rather, he is currently detained under an
order of detention pending trial in his criminal matter. See Charles v. Betti, No. 3:22-CV-
1559, Doc. 6 (M.D. Pa.). For the reasons set forth below, the Court will dismiss the habeas
petition as moot.
ll. Discussion
Article Ill of the Constitution dictates that a federal court may adjudicate “only actual,
ongoing cases or controversies.” Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 477
(1990); Burkey v. Marberry, 556 F.3d 142, 147 (3d Cir. 2009). “[A] petition for habeas
corpus relief generally becomes moot when a prisoner is released from custody before the
court has addressed the merits of the petition.” Diaz-Cabrera v. Sabol, 2011 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 124195, *3 (M.D. Pa. 2011) (quoting Lane v. Williams, 455 U.S. 624, 631 (1982)).
Thus, when a petitioner, who challenges only his ICE detention pending removal and not
the validity of the removal order itself, is released from custody, the petition becomes moot
because the petitioner has achieved the relief sought. See DeFoy v. McCullough, 393 F.3d
439, 441 (3d Cir. 2005) (“[A] petition for habeas corpus relief generally becomes moot when
4 Upon entering Petitioner's alien registration number, A060509153, and his country of birth,
Dominican Republic, into the Online Detainee Locator System, https://locator.ice.gov/odls/homePage.do,
the results returned no matches for any such detainee.
a prisoner is released from custody before the court has addressed the merits of the
petition.”).
In the present case, the habeas petition challenges Petitioner's continued detention
pending removal. (See Doc. 1). The Court finds that Petitioner is not currently suffering
from an actual injury traceable to the Respondent, the United States Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, since he has been released from federal custody. Thus, there is no
longer a case or controversy presented. Therefore, the instant habeas petition will be
dismissed as moot. See Blanciak v. Allegheny Ludlum Corp., 77 F.3d 690, 698-99 (3d Cir.
1996) (“If developments occur during the course of adjudication that eliminate a plaintiffs
personal stake in the outcome of a suit or prevent a court from being able to grant the
requested relief, the case must be dismissed as moot.”); see also Sanchez v. Attorney
General, 146 F. App’x 547, 549 (3d Cir. 2005) (holding that the habeas petition challenging
the petitioner's continued detention by ICE was rendered moot once the petitioner was
released).
A separate Order shall issue.
pe. Ned,
Robert D- Mariani
United States District Judge
Dated: October_/3_, 2022