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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND : RICARDO ANTONIO WELCH, JR. v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : : : : : : : MEMORANDUM Ricardo Antonio Welch, Jr. suffered a 422-day detention under an immigration statute that was unconstitutionally applied due to its failure to afford Mr. Welch a bail hearing. See Welch v. Reno, 101 F. Supp. 2d 347 (D. Md. 2000), aff'd on other grounds, Welch v. Ashcroft, 293 F.3d 213 (4th Cir. 2002). Although the Supreme Court subsequently rejected a constitutional challenge to the statute in another case, see Demore v. Hyng Joon Kim , 538 U.S. 510 (2003), Mr. Welch's litigation led to a court-ordered hearing at which an immigration judge released Mr. Welch on bail. Now Mr. Welch claims that his detention amounted to false imprisonment--a tort for which he says the United States should be liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"). The government has filed a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), arguing that Mr. Welch's claim is both barred by sovereign immunity under the so-called "due care" exception of the FTCA, see 28 U.S.C.

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