Ninth Circuit judges deny Guanlao’s motion

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied Amalia Abo Guanlao’s motion to reconsider its denial last Aug. 23 of her emergency request to suspend a federal court’s order against her.

The District Court’s recent order granted U.S. Immigration and Customs officials’ request to dissolve the court’s previous order that stayed a removal order against Guanlao.

Ninth Circuit judges Barry G. Silverman and Milan D. Smith Jr. did not explain their decision to deny Guanlao’s motion for reconsideration.

Silverman and Smith, however, said the briefing schedule established previously remains in effect pertaining to Guanlao’s appeal.

In their Aug. 23 order, Ninth Circuit judges also did not indicate the reason as to why they denied Guanlao’s emergency motion.

Guanlao, through counsel Rosemond Santos, filed the emergency motion to stay pending her appeal of the District Court’s Aug. 13 order.

In that Aug. 13 order, U.S. District Court for the NMI designated Judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood denied Guanlao’s motion to a stay pending appeal of the proceedings in federal court pending her appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

Guanlao is a Filipino mother of two minor U.S. children who has been fighting a 2013 immigration court’s order to have her removed from the U.S.

Tydingco-Gatewood said that without a reason to maintain the stay that was originally imposed by U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona, ICE officials’ motion to dissolve the stay is granted.

The judge said Guanlao has not made any specific arguments about the public interest or harm to the opposing parties.

According to court records, on Sept. 10, 2013, an immigration judge found that Guanlao was deportable and ordered her deported to the Philippines.

Guanlao appealed the judge’s decision to the Board of Appeals. She lost her case before the immigration court.

In June 2016, she filed a petition in federal court for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking determination of “the legality of her continued detention and intended removal” and “a stay of her removal during the pendency of this case.”

Aside from naming then-U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson as respondent, Guanlao also sued several U.S. immigration officials.

Guanlao alleged a violation of her due process rights because her then-counsel Alice Rae failed to inform her of the ability to file a petition for review of the final removal order to the Ninth Circuit.

On June 23, 2016, Manglona entered a stay on her removal “while the court hears the petition on the merits.”

Tydingco-Gatewood, who later presided over the case, then dismissed Guanlao’s claims with prejudice. However, she did not explicitly address the stay of removal.

In light of the court’s dismissal of the claims, ICE officials requested an order explicitly dissolving the stay of removal entered in 2016.