Federal Courts
RSSFederal Courts in Alaska include the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. They hear Alaska land, subsistence and fisheries disputes, federal prosecutions and judicial nominations, with Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court rulings also affecting state law.
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The James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse (U.S. General Services Administration) · Photo source · Public domain
Judge rules ICE's policy discouraging detention of pregnant women isn't binding
A federal judge in Anchorage ruled Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's policy discouraging the detention of pregnant women is not binding, denying the petition of a woman ICE held for three days in March after agents learned she was pregnant.
The 2021 policy says ICE generally "should not" detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing unless the law bars their release or exceptional circumstances exist.
Under a 1954 Supreme Court decision, federal agencies must follow their own binding rules. U.S. District Judge Aaron Christian Peterson found that the policy's wording shows ICE did not intend to create a binding procedure for detaining pregnant women.
"Inclusion of the words 'generally' and 'should' instead of something more mandatory, like 'shall,' indicate that ICE did not intend to curtail its ability to detain pregnant women when necessary and appropriate," Peterson wrote in his order.
He also pointed to the policy's last section, which calls it "internal ICE policy guidance" and says it creates no right "enforceable at law by any party."
Judges in Wisconsin and Louisiana applied the same 1954 decision to the policy this year. In both cases, the government did not show that the detention fell under the policy's exceptions, and the judges ordered the release of women who were nursing or had recently given birth.
The Alaska case began March 20, when ICE detained Valeria Mendoza Santiago, a Mexican national according to her court filings, and took her to its Anchorage office. Agents learned while processing her that she was pregnant, according to the order.
A supervisory officer asked Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, the state women's prison in Eagle River, whether it could provide pregnant detainees with appropriate accommodations and medical care. As ICE prepared to send her to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, he asked the center the same question.
Before any transfer, Mendoza Santiago challenged her detention in federal court in Anchorage. At 2:40 am the next day, U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess temporarily barred ICE from taking her out of Alaska. She was released March 23 and placed on supervised release.
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About Federal Courts
Federal courts in Alaska include the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, which sits in Anchorage, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from it. Rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court also shape law in the state.
The district court hears federal prosecutions, including fraud, tax evasion and child exploitation cases, and civil suits involving federal agencies. Land, refuge and fisheries disputes recur, among them Cook Inlet salmon management, the Izembek land exchange for a King Cove road and statehood land along the Dalton Highway corridor. Election law and federal programs are also tested there.
Judges for the district court are nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and vacancies on the small court can last for years. Alaska also joins other states in Supreme Court cases on questions such as climate damages and gun laws.
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