the February 18 filing deadline; however, Zayas's appeal was not received by the BIA until February 24. The BIA dismissed the appeal as untimely on April 16, 1997.3
Subsequent to the BIA's dismissal of his appeal, Zayas filed a series of habeas corpus petitions. Acting pro se, Zayas filed two habeas petitions in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In the first petition, filed on June 15, 1998, Zayas argued that his indefinite detention pending deportation was unlawful. In a Report and Recommendation, Magistrate Judge Rapoport found Zayas to be "in error regarding the applicable law," and recommended that the petition be "DENIED AND DISMISSED." Judge Reed approved and adopted the Report and Recommendation on October 6, 1998.
Zayas's second habeas petition was filed on June 30, 1999.Magistrate Judge Rapoport filed a Report and Recommendation in which he found that Zayas had raised essentially the same issues as he had in the first petition, and that Zayas's petition should therefore be dismissed. Again Judge Reed adopted the Report and Recommendation and dismissed the second habeas petition on August 11, 1999.
Meanwhile, on July 26, 1999, Zayas had filed with this court a petition styled "Motion for Review." In this submission, Zayas asked this court to review a decision by the INS District Director denying Zayas's release from detention.4 The INS subsequently moved to dismiss the "Motion for Review." On March 3, 2000, this court denied the motion to dismiss and ordered that the "Motion for Review" and an accompanying motion for appointment of counsel be transferred