Denis Alonso Soza-Romero v. Warden, Denver Contract Detention Facility

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado grants Denis Alonso Soza-Romero’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court holds that mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) does not apply on the facts presented and orders the respondent to release Soza-Romero within 24 hours, subject to previously imposed parole conditions. The court also restricts re-detention absent clear and convincing evidence of flight risk or danger to the community at a pre-deprivation bond hearing.

Holdings

1. Section 1225(b)(2)(A)'s mandatory-detention requirement does not apply to a noncitizen like Soza-Romero who has been residing in the United States for more than two years and has no qualifying criminal convictions.
2. When immigration officials previously released a noncitizen on humanitarian parole after determining that the person was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, and the government identifies no relevant changed circumstances, continued physical detention is unjustified.
3. Immediate release, rather than merely a bond hearing, was the appropriate remedy because the record already established a prior individualized release determination and the government identified no changed circumstances warranting renewed detention.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) requires mandatory detention of a noncitizen who has been present in the United States for more than two years after being paroled into the country and has not been admitted.
2. Whether continued immigration detention was justified when DHS had previously released the petitioner on humanitarian parole after determining that he was not a flight risk or danger to the community, and the government identified no changed circumstances.
3. Whether the appropriate relief was immediate release rather than a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).

Disposition

writ_granted