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Case Information
Full Name : Jose Antonio Franco-Gonzalez, Ever Francisco Martinez-Rivas, Aleksandr Petrovich Khukhryanskiy, Maksim Zhalezny, Jose Chavez, Yonas Woldemariam, Jose Antonio Moreno-Vasquez, and Juan Carlos Sepulveda-Perez on behalf of themselves and all other similarly situated v. Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, Thomas G. Snow, Acting Director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, John Morton, Assistant Secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Timothy S. Robbins, Field Office Director for the Los Angeles District of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Case Number : CV 10-2211-DMG
Court : United States District Court for the Central District of California
Judge : Hon. Dolly M. Gee
Co-Counsel : Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Public Counsel; ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project; ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties; Mental Health Advocacy Services; Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; ACLU Foundation of Arizona
Franco v. Holder is a class action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of immigration detainees in California, Arizona, and Washington who suffer from severe mental disabilities. The Obama administration has refused to provide an attorney, the most fundamental of legal protections, to these vulnerable individuals, even though they obviously cannot understand, let alone defend themselves in, their deportation hearings.
The ACLU has won rulings from the district court establishing the right to legal representation for several lead plaintiffs in the case, and hopes to establish that right for all class members who are not competent to represent themselves due to their serious mental disabilities.
Case Developments
Judge Dolly M. Gee issued a permanent injunction holding that the Rehabilitation Act requires the government to provide all Subclass One members with a Qualified Representative in their immigration proceedings, the first opinion recognizing the right to appointed counsel in immigration proceedings for a group of immigrants. The permanent injunction also requires the government to provide bond redetermination hearings for all Subclass Two members who have been detained for more than 180 days. Read the order here and read our press release here.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Executive Office for Immigration Review announced new policies to provide enhanced procedural protections to detained immigrants with serious mental disabilities, including the Franco class. Read our press release here.
The Court ordered the government to locate our class members — all immigrants with serious mental disabilities detained in California, Arizona, and Washington — and provide us with information to allow us to protect them from unlawful deportation. Read the order.
The Court ruled that the case could proceed as a class action, thus allowing the ACLU to assist dozens of detainees with serious mental disabilities. Read the ruling.
The Court ordered the government to provide legal representation for Mr. Zhalezny, ruled that his father (who has no legal training and speaks little English) could not be forced to act as his lawyer, and ordered the government to provide him with a bond hearing. Shortly afterward, Mr. Zhalezny was released from immigration detention. Read the order.
The ACLU’s third amended complaint describes the history of several individuals with serious mental disabilities who were imprisoned without lawyers in our nation’s immigration detention system. Read the complaint.
The Court ordered the government to provide legal representation to two of our named plaintiffs — Ever Martinez and Aleksandr Khukhryanskiy — both of whom have serious mental disabilities that render them incompetent to represent themselves. This was the first published opinion ever requiring the government to provide legal representation to a non-citizen in immigration proceedings. Read the order.
