Hamama v. Adducci

The petitioners in this class action habeas petition are Iraqi nationals. They had been subject to final orders of removal for many years, but the U.S. government had permitted them to reside in the community under orders of supervision. However, in early 2017, political negotiations by the Trump Administration led to Iraq’s agreement to allow some repatriations. On June 11, 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began arresting and detaining Iraqi nationals in the metro Detroit area.

In response, on June 15, 2017, the petitioners brought this class action habeas petition. Represented by the ACLU of Michigan, the ACLU National Immigrant Rights Project, and others, they alleged that their removal into dangerous circumstances would violate the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Convention Against Torture (CAT), and that removing them without giving them a chance to assert their defenses under the INA and CAT would violate the Due Process Clause.

The petitioners sought and received multiple preliminary injunctions to stay removals, ordering individualized bond hearings, and ordering the release of detainees who had been held longer than six months. The government appealed the stay of removal and required bond hearings. The Sixth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunctions halting removal and ordering bond hearings; the government's appeal of the release order is pending. This case is a part of a broader Clearinghouse special collection, Civil Rights Challenges to Trump Immigration Enforcement Orders, that collects challenges to immigration enforcement orders issued by President Trump relating to: (1) Sanctuary cities/states, (2) DACA, (3) Deportations under the Trump administration, and (4) Border wall construction.

The Clearinghouse will continue following this case closely as the litigation proceeds.