Damari Chavez de Vasquez v. Nikita Baker, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed without prejudice a habeas petition challenging the petitioner’s immigration bond hearing and arrest. The court held that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(e) barred review of the petitioner’s case-specific challenge to the evidence presented at the bond hearing, and that her warrantless-arrest claim was not cognizable in an individual habeas petition while immigration proceedings were underway. The court granted the government’s motion to dismiss and closed the case.

Holdings

1. Section 1226(e) barred Petitioner's claim because it challenged the quantum and nature of the evidence considered by the immigration judge in making a case-specific discretionary bond decision, rather than presenting a facial constitutional challenge to the statutory detention framework or immigration-court procedures.
2. An individual habeas petition could not provide relief challenging Petitioner's original immigration arrest because the arrest occurred pursuant to a warrant issued essentially contemporaneously with custody and her immigration proceedings, including a bond determination, were already underway.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226(e) barred Petitioner's challenge to the evidentiary basis and merits of the immigration judge's bond determination.
2. Whether Petitioner could obtain individual habeas relief based on the alleged warrantless nature of her immigration arrest after her immigration proceedings had commenced.
3. Whether Petitioner was entitled to mandamus or habeas relief ordering her immediate release.

Disposition

dismissed