Bassam Khoury v. Nathalie Asher

MEMORANDUM

Defendants appeal from the district court’s order certifying a class of alien detainees and declaring that the class was entitled to bond hearings. The class comprised aliens who were subjected to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226 (c) even though they were not detained immediately upon their release from criminal custody. In granting class certification and declaratory relief, the district court concluded that § 1226(c) applies only to aliens who are detained immediately upon their release from criminal custody. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

The plain language of § 1226(c) makes clear that mandatory detention applies only to those aliens detained “when [they are] released” from criminal custody. See Preap v. Johnson, slip op. at -. Because the phrase “when ... released” conveys a degree of immediacy, “§ 1226(c) applies only to those criminal noncitizens who are detained promptly after their release from criminal custody, not to those detained long after.” Id. at -. We disagree with the government’s arguments under United States v. Montalvo-Murillo, 495 U.S. 711 , 110 S.Ct. 2072 , 109 L.Ed.2d 720 (1990), that it should nonetheless…