Benjamin Clark v. Richard C. Smith, District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Opinion
Opinion
Noonan, J.
Benjamin Clark appeals the denial of the district court’s denial of his petition for habeas corpus to release him from detention by Richard Smith, Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Clark advances the novel claim that the INS has no authority to detain him during the course of an appeal by the INS from a decision of an immigration judge. Clark’s claim evokes sympathy but in the end is not persuasive. We affirm the judgment of the district court.
FACTS
According to Clark’s application for asylum, the following are facts:
Clark was born in Bridgetown, Barbados on October 28, 1966, but at the age of four moved to Ghana where he grew up, attended schools and engaged in political activity. In particular, he became a friend of Major Courage Quashigah, who engaged in an attempted coup against the government of Lt. Jerry Rawlings. In September 1989, he, Clark, was questioned and tortured regarding the coup. He was released after two weeks. At the request of Mrs. Quashi-gah, he stored four large trunks belonging to her husband. He was again arrested and again beaten, but released after three months. Security forces of the government then searched his house and…