ACLU of Puerto Rico seeks reconsideration and opposes the transfer of Albeto Pierre’s habeas corpus case to Florida

San Juan, P.R. – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico filed a motion for reconsideration before the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, opposing the court’s decision to refer Haitian immigrant Albeto Pierre’s case to the federal jurisdiction of the Middle District of Florida for alleged lack of jurisdiction.

The organization argued that the transfer order imposes an undue and unjust burden on Pierre—detained following an intervention that shows evidence of racial profiling—and leaves the door open to serious consequences for other immigrants detained in Puerto Rico.

“When a court declines to review a detention that occurred in Puerto Rico and was challenged here, it is failing in its essential role as a check on abuses of state power,” underscored Fermín Arraiza Navas, legal director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico and counsel in the case. “Allowing the government to manufacture a ‘lack of jurisdiction’ through a transfer after the habeas corpus petition is filed is tantamount to validating a maneuver by the Trump administration to evade judicial oversight,” he stated.

The ACLU of Puerto Rico emphasized that this case raises an urgent issue: whether the federal government may transfer a person out of Puerto Rico after a habeas corpus petition has been filed and thereby succeed in moving the case out of the jurisdiction—a dangerous pattern that incentivizes deliberate evasion of judicial scrutiny and exposes more detainees in the archipelago to being trapped in procedural limbo.

Pierre was detained by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on December 24, 2025, near the Health Pro-Med clinic on Avenida Borinquen, while accompanying his partner to a prenatal care appointment, a fact that demonstrates the urgent need to prohibit detentions in sensitive locations such as health centers, as well as their surrounding areas, as a guarantee of access to essential basic services.

On December 29, 2025, the ACLU of Puerto Rico filed an emergency habeas corpus petition challenging Pierre’s detention as arbitrary and lacking legal basis, and requesting his immediate release, as well as an order preventing his transfer outside Puerto Rico’s jurisdiction. The organization also filed an ex parte motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO), which the court denied.

After the denial of the first TRO, the ACLU of Puerto Rico returned to court with a renewed TRO motion and an amended habeas corpus petition. In those filings, the organization warned that on the same day the court denied the first TRO—December 30, 2025—the government transferred Pierre to “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, an improvised facility with inhumane and unconstitutional conditions. The Haitian immigrant is currently at the Broward Transitional Center in Florida.

After delays, the judge had finally scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, January 20, at 2:30 p.m. However, just two hours before, the judge notified the parties in writing of her determination to suspend the hearing and transfer the case to Florida.

Documented obstacles when transferring detained persons outside Puerto Rico

In its motion for reconsideration, the ACLU of Puerto Rico argued that Pierre is not subject to mandatory detention under the circumstances defined by federal law (INA) and that less restrictive alternatives to detention exist. It also argued that Pierre qualifies for a bond hearing and that this determination should take place in Puerto Rico without unjustified delays.

Pierre is also represented by attorney Rafael Rodríguez Rivera, director of the Community Legal Clinic at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law, and attorney María García Mirada, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law.

As part of the record, immigration attorney Yarima González Crespo described specific obstacles that, in her experience, intensify when a person detained in Puerto Rico is transferred to the mainland, including limitations on adequately interviewing her client, uncertainty about the confidentiality of communications, and practical barriers to obtaining essential case information in real time.

She also explained that transfers create severe difficulties in gathering evidence and coordinating witnesses who reside in Puerto Rico, complicate constant communication between client and counsel, and heighten the emotional and family impact by separating them from their support network. González Crespo also described inhumane detention conditions she has observed in different facilities, including sanitary deficiencies and lack of essential services.

“A prolonged detention without bond cannot be justified when the system itself does not allow the detained person access to the process,” said González Crespo, who also appears as a petitioner in the case.

In addition, the organization reiterated that the events giving rise to the controversy occurred in Puerto Rico and that Pierre was in custody in this jurisdiction at the time the petition was filed. It further specified that federal agent Rebecca González Ramos, in charge of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office in Puerto Rico, was properly included as a respondent and that service of process was carried out in accordance with law.

“The government cannot use civil detention as punishment. Albeto Pierre has the right to a fair process, a real assessment of his eligibility for bond, and above all, not to be deprived of liberty through discriminatory practices,” Rodríguez Rivera added.