A Venezuelan native who is being held in the Moshannon Valley Processing Center has filed a civil rights petition with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown seeking release from custody and requesting the court to issue a stay of his removal pending the outcome of his case.

The petition was initially filed on behalf of an immigrant referred to by the pseudonym of Y.J.R.R. in Pennsylvania’s Middle District, but was transferred to Western District last Friday.

The Moshannon Valley facility is operated as a detention center for the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is located in the Western District.

Y.J.R.R.’s petition is the first from Moshannon Valley since District Judge Stephanie L. Haines in Johnstown issued an order last week that individuals taken into ICE custody be given 21 days to contact an attorney and have an “opportunity to be heard” if they are to be deported under the Alien Enemies Act.

The 1798 Act has been used rarely since the nation’s founding and only during wartime.

The president issued a proclamation indicating that it is appropriate to use the act to detain and deport members of the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua.

Haines did not disagree with Trump on that point, but found potential deportees have a right to challenge their arrest and detention.

Y.J.R.R., through Philadelphia attorney Robert C. Barchiesi, has filed a civil rights complaint after being contacted by the detainee’s family.

The family reported Y.J.R.R. had been arrested by ICE.

Family members stated that he was “suddenly and without prior notice” taken into ICE custody and was imprisoned in the Pike County Corrections Center.

He was then transferred to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg.

The petition filed late last week in the Western District stated, “Without access to counsel and under imminent threat of removal, Y.J.R.R. has had no meaningful opportunity to understand the basis of his detention, to review the existence of or validity of any removal order, to evaluate available defenses and forms of protection under U.S. or international law.”

The petition continued, “Y.J.R.R. has had no opportunity to consult with an attorney.”

He came to the United States seeking protection and “was issued an Order of Supervision by ICE that required him to periodically report.”

“There is no indication he failed to comply with these requirements,” his petition noted.

The defense is seeking his release, outlining violations of the Fifth Amendment (lack of due process), the Sixth Amendment (lack of access to an attorney) and unlawful detention.

The defendants in the case include: the warden of Moshannon Valley; the acting director of ICE; Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The case has been referred to Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto, who presides in Johnstown.

While a great deal of attention was focused on the recent case of A.S.R., a Venezuelan native alleged to be a member of Tren de Aragua who was challenging the president’s power to implement the Alien Enemies Act, there are also many other cases involving immigrant rights like that of Y.J.R.R. that receive little attention.

Since the beginning of the year, Moshannon Valley inmates have filed 32 civil rights cases contesting their imprisonment and possible deportation.

Barchiesi said Y.J.R.R. was taken into custody when attending a meeting with ICE officials in Philadelphia.

He explained his client, who is in the country legally and has been in compliance with conditions of his stay, doesn’t understand why he was taken into custody.

However, the attorney noted that things have changed under the Trump administration.

In his petition for instance, he stated, “ICE is increasingly treating civil immigration respondents — particularly those who entered without inspection or are deemed inadmissible under Immigration and Nationality Act — as criminal offenders, including through the practice of labeling such individuals as having ‘pending arrests’ in the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) data base.”

Barchiesi, a former police officer, noted that such an alert would result in more reports to ICE of possible wrongdoing by a person under ICE supervision.

His complaint explained, “These measures not only stigmatize civil respondents (like Y.J.R.R.) but also risk depriving them of the procedural safeguards guaranteed in removal proceedings, and in this case, habeas corpus review.”

His filing of the lawsuit in Johnstown will help slow things down so Y.J.R.R. has an understanding of why he was taken into custody, he stated.

“Nobody, as yet, has charged that Y.J.R.R. is a member of Tren de Aragua,” his attorney concluded.