"The case, Michelin v. Warden Moshannon Valley Correctional Center, consolidated two appeals involving immigrants detained for extended periods - one for over a year and the other for over 16 months - without bond hearings. Both won their habeas petitions and sought attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The government, in a move that should surprise absolutely no one, decided to fight that too."
""A petition for a writ of habeas corpus has been a civil action since before our law was our law," begins the opinion. Even if the court were to indulge the government's argument as it applies to releasing people from criminal detention, "we are not reviewing habeas petitions for release from criminal detention. We are reviewing them for release from immigration detention. In that context, every element is civil.""
The Third Circuit held that the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) applies to successful habeas petitions challenging prolonged immigration detention. Two consolidated appeals, Michelin v. Warden Moshannon Valley Correctional Center, involved immigrants detained over a year without bond hearings who won habeas relief and sought attorney fees under the EAJA. The government argued habeas is a 'hybrid' not a civil action under EAJA, but the court rejected that view, noting habeas petitions for immigration release are civil in every element and tracing centuries of precedent. The opinion rejected statutory exceptions and found EAJA fee awards available to successful petitioners.
Read at Above the Law
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