Kumarasamy: Habeas Usually Not Allowed If Deported Before Filing Habeas

Kumarasamy v. Gonzales
No. 05-2323
Precedential
June 23, 2006
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/052323p.pdf

The Third Circuit ruled that you can't file a habeas corpus petition (demanding release of someone) if the person was already deported before you filed your petition. (In footnote 6, the Third Circuit says being deported after you filed your petition will not affect the Third Circuit's ability to hear the habeas claim, because you were in custody when you started the case.)

Although many courts have said you do not need to be in actual immigration custody to be able to file a habeas claim, they covered situations where someone was in the US and under a final order of deportation. If you've already been deported, though, the Third Circuit feels that you are not laboring under any greater restraint than others outside the US.

There is one narrow exception -- exceptional circumstances that would otherwise effect a miscarriage of justice. The Third Circuit notes this narrow exception in footnote 5. But it held that narrow exception did not apply in this case, so the habeas petition is improper and the court dismissed the habeas case.