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U.S. Citizen Held By ICE For 3 Years Denied Compensation By Appeals Court (NPR)

K

Kin5290

Member
U.S. Citizen Who Was Held By ICE For 3 Years Denied Compensation By Appeals Court

Davino Watson told the immigration officers that he was a U.S. citizen. He told jail officials that he was a U.S. citizen. He told a judge. He repeated it again and again.

There is no right to a court-appointed attorney in immigration court. Watson, who was 23 and didn't have a high school diploma when he entered ICE custody, didn't have a lawyer of his own. So he hand-wrote a letter to immigration officers, attaching his father's naturalization certificate, and kept repeating his status to anyone who would listen.

Still, Immigration and Customs Enforcement kept Watson imprisoned as a deportable alien for nearly 3 1/2 years. Then it released Watson, who was from New York, in rural Alabama with no money and no explanation. Deportation proceedings continued for another year.

Watson was correct all along: He was a U.S. citizen. After he was released, he filed a complaint. Last year, a district judge in New York awarded him $82,500 in damages, citing "regrettable failures of the government."

On Monday, an appeals court ruled that Watson, now 32, is not eligible for any of that money — because while his case is "disturbing," the statute of limitations actually expired while he was still in ICE custody without a lawyer.
Click to expand...
What the hell?

Quick Summary
  1. Davino Watson plead guilty to a cocaine trafficking charge in 2007, and when released in 2008 he was picked up by ICE
  2. He became a US citizen when his father, an immigrant from Jamaica, was naturalized in 2002.
  3. ICE fails to follow up on the contact number that Watson provides for his father, and they somehow mix up his father with a completely different man who is not a US citizen, lives in the wrong state, and doesn't have a son named Davino. As a result they continue to hold him as a deportable alien.
  4. Davino is brought before an immigration court judge in 2008. As a "deportable alien" he is not provided with an attorney. He isn't finally released until 2011.
  5. In 2016, a District Court in NY awarded him (edit: $82,500) in damages for three years he spent imprisoned under false pretenses.
  6. However, yesterday, an Appeals Court overturned that ruling and stated that Davino would be entitled to no money. Why? Because they ruled that the two year statute of limitations for the false imprisonment charge started counting down when Davino first saw an immigration court judge in 2008... without access to a lawyer. Even better, they rule out an exception to the two year statute of limitations that the District justice used to award Davino compensation on the basis that it is "a rare remedy, and not a cureall for a common state of affairs", which apparently means illegal detention of US citizens by ICE.

Firstly, fuck ICE. Secondly, this is an utterly ridiculous end run against the very idea of compensation for being falsely imprisoned by the federal government. You can't receive compensation if the government falsely imprisons you for too long! Or you better file a false imprisonment claim while you are imprisoned, and presumably before you are found to have been imprisoned falsely.
 
O

Ogodei

Member
Wrongful imprisonment damages should be 3x the US average salary for however long you were held. Maddening that he lost, but the amount to win would've been insulting too.
 
V

vikki

Member
Deserves more money, and how the fuck does the clock start counting down before you are released?
 
F

FyreWulff

Member
that's pretty fucked up and a large loophole if the government can just hold you past the statute of limitations to the point imprisoning you is no longer illegal.
 
A

A Link to the Past

Banned
How in the world can the statute of limitations end while in custody? ICE was violating his constitutional rights until the very last moment he was let out, not simply when he was initially detained.
 
K

Kin5290

Member
Aztechnology said:
Maybe I'm reading this wrong. But he wasn't even awarded any of that money after it went to a higher level court.
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That's correct. The District Court awarded him $82,500 in damages, but when whoever was representing ICE/the federal government appealed the decision (all large organizations will appeal a ruling that doesn't go their way as a matter of course) the Appeals Court decided that Davino wasn't entitled to any damages, due to the statue of limitation running out.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
Mr_Antimatter said:
Appeal to the Supreme. It's asinine that a statue of limitations can expire while still being illegally held.
Click to expand...

They should file for cert but there is no guarantee SCOTUS takes the case.

EDIT: Well that was a fascinating read. What a series of unfortunate events. For anyone interested, here are the pertinent decisions and brief. Watson appealed the lower courts decision.

http://www.immigrantjustice.org/sit.../files/Watson Damages Decision (02 23 15).pdf

http://www.immigrantjustice.org/sit...iles/FILED Watson Opening Brief (2d Cir.).pdf


http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisio...00578e8-950f-42f8-99ab-878cae98b660/1/hilite/
 
K

Kettch

Member
System is even more fucked up than I thought when a US citizen is held for 3 years without a lawyer.

This immigration court loophole around the 6th amendment is total bullshit.
 
C

Cat Party

Member
Kill3r7 said:
They should file for cert but there is no guarantee SCOTUS takes the case.

EDIT: Well that was a fascinating read. What a series of unfortunate events. For anyone interested, here are the pertinent decisions and brief. Watson appealed the lower courts decision.

http://www.immigrantjustice.org/sit.../files/Watson Damages Decision (02 23 15).pdf

http://www.immigrantjustice.org/sit...iles/FILED Watson Opening Brief (2d Cir.).pdf


http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisio...00578e8-950f-42f8-99ab-878cae98b660/1/hilite/
Click to expand...
Definitely a messed up situation. There were some complicating factors regarding establishing his citizenship. But I just can't agree with the court's conclusion that equitable tolling doesn't apply here.
 
S

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
I'm confused.

In a kidnapping case, the statute of limitations starts at the end of the kidnapping, why would this be any different?
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
Suikoguy said:
I'm confused.

In a kidnapping case, the statute of limitations starts at the end of the kidnapping, why would this be any different?
Click to expand...

False imprisonment ends when an individual is provided with due process. Once Watson went in front of the immigration judge he was no longer falsely imprisoned but rather it became a case of malicious prosecution. NY Law does not have a section for negligent prosecution. So Watson had to prove malice which is incredibly hard to do.

Cat Party said:
Definitely a messed up situation. There were some complicating factors regarding establishing his citizenship. But I just can't agree with the court's conclusion that equitable tolling doesn't apply here.
Click to expand...

Agreed but even if equitable tolling applied he would be no better off than what he got from the lower court.
 
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