Liban Ahmed Abdala v. Immigration and Naturalization Service Adele J. Fasano, Dist. Director, Ins District Director for the San Diego District

Liban Abdala (“Abdala”) was ordered removed from the United States to Somalia as a result of his criminal convictions. While in Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) custody, Abdala filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 in which he challenged the length of his pre-deportation detainment. Shortly after filing that petition, Abdala was deported. We hold that because Abdala’s habeas claims challenged only the length of his detention, as distinguished from the lawfulness of the deportation order, his grievance could no longer be remedied once he was deported. His petition was thus rendered moot by his removal.

I

Abdala, a native citizen of Somalia, immigrated to the United States in 1997. That year, he was convicted in California state court of the unlawful taking of a vehicle and sentenced to 181 days imprisonment and 3 years probation. Then, in 1999, he was convicted in federal court of conspiracy to destroy government property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1361, and sentenced to 364 days imprisonment and 3 years supervised release. It appears Abdala was taken into INS custody on November 2, 1999. Based on his convictions, on April…