Garcia v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 10 November 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93-55043,93-55043
• Citation: 40 F.3d 299
• Parties: Lazaro GARCIA, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Larry F. TAYLOR, Warden; Immigration & Naturalization Service, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 299

40 F.3d 299

Lazaro GARCIA, Petitioner-Appellant, v.Larry F. TAYLOR, Warden; Immigration & Naturalization Service, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 93-55043.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Oct. 4, 1994.

Decided Nov. 10, 1994.

Paul Hoffman, Santa Monica, CA, for petitioner-appellant.

John B. Bartos, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, CA, for respondents-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before: FLETCHER and FERNANDEZ, Circuit Judges, and SEDWICK, District Judge.^*

FERNANDEZ, Circuit Judge:

Lazaro Garcia is a citizen of Cuba and a permanent resident of the United States.He is also a person who is serving a sentence in federal prison after having been convicted of distribution of cocaine.See21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1).That conviction makes him an aggravated felon.See8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(43);18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c)(2).As an aggravated felon he is subject to the provisions of 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252 and is to be provided an expedited deportation hearing.See8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252a(d)(1).He brought a mandamus action in which he claimed that the Immigration & Naturalization Service was not taking steps to give him the expedited hearing that the law promised (or threatened).The district court denied relief and he appeals.We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND FACTS

Garcia is serving an 84-month term in federal prison on account of his narcotics trafficking offense.He has a probable release date of May 9, 1996.His crime has subjected him to the possibility of deportation.See8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252.That means that the Attorney General"shall provide for the initiation and, to the extent possible, the completion of deportation proceedings, and any administrative appeals thereof, ... before [his] release from incarceration for the underlying aggravated felony."8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252a(d)(1).

Because Garcia desired to have his deportability decided and to complete any necessary administrative appeals before his release date, he asked that his deportation hearing start as soon as possible.He was told that would not occur and that, indeed, he would not get a hearing until a federal judge ordered one.He then brought this mandamus action against the Warden, Larry F. Taylor, and against the INS.He asked for a writ directing the prison officials and the INS to take appropriate steps to commence his hearing and to complete the administrative process within the time prescribed by Congress.

For reasons not entirely clear to us, the district court dubbed the petition as one for habeas corpus and asked for a response from the government.In that response, the government explained the program that had been designed by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the INS, and the Bureau of Prisons.It indicated that under the program, aliens (at least some of them) were getting their hearings and that the process was being conducted in an efficient manner which minimized expenses to the participating agencies.¹In further affidavits appended to its brief in this court, the government reiterated those points and added that about six months prior to their projected release date federal prisoners are transferred to the facility where hearings are conducted.As the government explained, the INS cannot even start proceedings until the transfer is made by the BOP, and even then the INS cannot say what the hearing date will be.

At oral argument, government counsel said that the commencement date of proceedings could be expected to be four to six months prior to the release date.It conceded that under this program if there were an administrative appeal, it would be impossible to complete that process before the release date.

We return to the chronological order of things.Garcia replied to the government's response and stated that he wanted no part of a habeas corpus proceeding; his petition, he said, was for a writ of mandamus.He again demanded that relief.

The magistrate judge then issued a Report and Recommendation in which he recognized that Garcia was petitioning for a writ of mandamus.The magistrate judge recommended that the petition be denied because, as he indicated, there was no INS policy of refusing to hold hearings before the release date.The district court agreed, and this appeal ensued.

JURISDICTION

As an initial matter, we must decide what kind of proceeding was commenced by Garcia.Although there was some misdirection at the district court level, the simple fact is that Garcia did not seek habeas corpus.The district court ultimately recognized that.Garcia sought mandamus and his case must stand or fall on that basis.

In general, the district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1361.But, says the government, there cannot be jurisdiction in this case because Garcia does not have standing.That is an issue that has been debated at length.However, it is now settled.We have already said that prisoner aliens who seek mandamus to force the INS to start deportation proceedings do have standing.SeeSilveyra v. Moschorak, 989 F.2d 1012, 1014 & n. 1, 1015(9th Cir.1993)(per curiam).That applies to Garcia.

Therefore, there can be no doubt that we do have jurisdiction.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

As we said in Fallini v. Hodel, 783 F.2d 1343, 1345(9th Cir.1986)(citations omitted):

The extraordinary remedy of mandamus traditionally lies within the trial court's discretion.A trial court abuses its discretion when its decision is based on clearly erroneous factual findings or an incorrect legal standard.

Whether each element of the three-part mandamus test is satisfied is a question of law.We review de novo.

DISCUSSION

Therefore, we will consider Garcia's claim that the government has failed to conduct deportation proceedings in a timely fashion.²

As we recently said, "A writ of mandamus is appropriately issued only when (1)the plaintiff's claim is 'clear and certain'; (2)the defendant official's duty to act is ministerial, and 'so plainly prescribed as to be free from doubt'; and (3) no other adequate remedy is available."Barron v. Reich, 13 F.3d 1370, 1374(9th Cir.1994)(citations omitted).

(1) Garcia's Claim.We think there can be little doubt that Garcia's claim is clear and certain.He claims that the government--he joined only the BOP and the INS--has the obligation to follow the terms of 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252a(d)(1).We have no doubt that the government does have that duty, and, as we have already pointed out, there is no doubt that Garcia can seek to enforce adherence to that duty.SeeSilveyra, 989 F.2d at 1014 & n. 1, 1015.

(2) The Ministerial Duty.In holding against Garcia, the district court simply noted that he was not yet scheduled for actual release--the probable release date was three years away.Thus, it said, there was still time to commence and complete proceedings before the release date came, so Garcia was not entitled to relief.With all due respect, we believe that misstates the inquiry.The proper inquiry is whether the government has any intention of attempting to complete the administrative process before Garcia's release date.Let there be all the time in the world, if the government has expressed an intention to proceed in a manner that will violate the statute, mandamus may lie.

The government said, and says, that it has no such intention.It points to the fact that at least some prisoners are able to have their proceedings completed in a timely fashion.Having said that, it believes it has said enough.At first blush, that position has merit because we confronted and passed upon that kind of contention in Silveyra.In that case, we determined that no relief was possible.As we said:

Silveyra admits, however, that INS has a policy of conducting deportation hearings for at least some incarcerated aliens before the expiration of their prison terms.Silveyra alleges only that INS breached its discretionary duty to begin proceedings "as expeditiously as possible" by failing to initiate deportation proceedings in his particular case.

989 F.2d at 1015.That sounds dispositive of the case at hand, for it must be admitted that "at least some incarcerated aliens" complete the process in a timely fashion.But in Silveyra we did not stop with that observation.We went on to state:

Mandamus may not be used to instruct an official how to exercise discretion unless that official has ignored or violated "statutory or regulatory standards delimiting the scope or manner in which such discretion can be exercised."Because Silveyra does not claim either that INS violated applicable standards in his case, or that INS's policy is so inadequate as to be beyond the limits of INS's discretion, Silveyra has no claim under the Mandamus and Venue Act.

Id.(citations omitted).

The difficulty is deciding whether those statements apply to this case.We think they do not.Garcia does claim that the policy in question here is "so inadequate as to be beyond the limits of INS's discretion," and that the statutory standards have been ignored.Could there be merit in those claims?We think there could be.To explain why, we must return to the statute in question.

That statute directs that the Attorney General"shall provide for the initiation ... of deportation proceedings" before the release date.See8 U.S.C. Sec. 1252a(d)(1).There can be no doubt that the government has complied with that directive.Were that all, this case would be at an end.

However, the statute also directs that the Attorney General"shall provide for ... the completion of deportation proceedings and any administrative appeals thereof" before the release date "to the extent possible."Id.There can be no doubt that the program adopted by the government makes it impossible to complete the administrative appeals process before the release date.When the government refuses to commence proceedings any earlier than four to six...