Attorneys in Florida and across the country are increasingly filing habeas corpus petitions in federal court to challenge immigration detention. For many, it’s the only path left to seek release.
Before zero-tolerance policies and crackdowns on mass deportations, habeas corpus petitions were not always necessary, according to experts. The habeas petition allows U.S. citizens and non-citizens to question in court whether their detention is lawful.
Laura Quintero, an immigration attorney in Orange County, said lawyers are turning to habeas corpus as a necessary tool to ensure accountability. What was once an uncommon procedural remedy has become an essential defense against prolonged and potentially unlawful detention, she said.
Immigration attorneys were able to obtain the release of their clients with no criminal record through a bond hearing before an immigration judge.
That changed after the Trump administration reversed that policy in favor of mandatory detention.
Now, according to ProPublica, habeas petitions filed in the first 13 months of the second Trump administration across the nation exceeded the total number filed since 2009, reaching more than 18,000 challenges.
Florida has recorded 912 habeas corpus cases in federal court since last January, ProPublica found.
Last year, President Donald Trump floated the idea that his administration could evaluate the possibility of suspending habeas corpus. However, the Constitution only allows habeas corpus to be suspended when “in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
Habeas corpus petitions have stopped the Trump administration from deporting more Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act without giving them a court hearing. Dozens of Venezuelans were deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador last year. Recently, a federal judge ordered to bring some back to fight their deportations.
Habeas corpus petitions have been used to challenge detentions that drew national attention, including those of former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk.
The process can be expensive and depends on the complexity of each case, said Luis Angeles, an immigration lawyer. Filing a habeas corpus petition in federal court typically costs between $6,000 and $8,000. In Florida, those cases can sometimes reach $10,000 or more, depending on the circumstances, Angeles said.
The rapid increase and volume of hundreds of habeas corpus petitions are also becoming a big problem for many courts across the nation as a result of the avalanche of cases, the Associated Press reported.
“The Trump administration is more than prepared to handle the legal caseload necessary to deliver President Trump’s deportation agenda for the American people,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times.
“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States. Additionally, it should come as no surprise that more habeas petitions are being filed by illegal aliens — especially after many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people’s mandate for mass deportations.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement held nearly 71,000 immigrants in detention centers in the last week of January, according to Syracuse University’s database of federal immigration statistics.
In a time when immigration policy continues to evolve and enforcement practices intensify, Quintero said, habeas corpus remains one of the strongest legal tools available.
Last week, this strategy helped free Johnny Rondon-Rodriguez and his wife, Fadya Contreras de Rondon, from ICE custody in Orange County.
Rondon-Rodriguez said they had complied with every legal requirement, attended their immigration appointments and had no criminal record. He doesn’t understand why they were arrested.
“Hope exists when you feel the law is respected,” Rondon-Rodriguez said. “But with so many irregularities that are happening, it’s difficult, you begin to lose faith. Thank God I met people who were just as decent and educated.”
Their attorneys, including Quintero, are fighting their case in court after the Venezuelan couple was arrested while traveling from Orlando to Ocala on Jan. 9.
“In the end, habeas corpus is not simply a legal filing,” Quintero said. “It is a reaffirmation that due process still matters.”
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