Amid the Donald Trump administration’s massive crackdown on international students, the administration in a court filing revealed how much time it gives to a person after they are given a notice of removal under the Alien Enemies Act. Several instances in the recent past showed that there was no notice served and individuals were straight picked up by the ICE officials but the administration said it gives “no less than 12 hours” to aliens to indicate their intent to file a habeas petition to contest their deportation, and “no less than 24 hours” to file it.
The sworn declaration by Carlos Cisneros, the assistant field office director for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was unsealed by a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas who temporarily blocked the government from deporting Venezuelans held in the El Valle Detention Center in Texas earlier this month.
“The alien is given a reasonable amount of time, and no less than 12 hours, including the ability to make a telephone call, to indicate or express an intent to file a habeas petition,” Cisneros said in the declaration. “If the alien does not express any such intention, then ICE may proceed with the removal.”
“If the alien does express an intent to file a habeas petition, the alien is given a reasonable amount of time, and no less than 24 hours, to actually file that petition,” Cisneros said.
An alien is first issued with a Form AEA-21B which explains why the individual is being deported. When that notice is given, and read aloud in the immigrant’s language, they are given the chance to make one phone call, Cisneros said.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a post on X: “This is incredible. It signals open defiance of the Supreme Court, which ruled that the government MUST give people ‘reasonable time’ to be able to ‘actually seek habeas relief’ — to be able to ACTUALLY, not theoretically, sue. 12 hours is not enough for that. Period.”
