Fernando Castillo Fuentes v. Luis Soto, et al.

Summary

The court grants Fernando Castillo Fuentes’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) without an individualized bond hearing. Relying on its prior decision in Velasquez v. Noem, the court holds that because Fuentes had been residing in the United States and was arrested in the interior, his detention is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), and orders respondents to provide an individualized bond hearing.

Holdings

1. A noncitizen who has long resided in the United States and is arrested in the interior, rather than while seeking admission or arriving at the border, is detained under the discretionary authority of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), not the mandatory-detention provision of § 1225(b)(2).
2. Respondents must provide Petitioner with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), at which the judge must assess flight risk and danger to the community.
3. The court was not required to defer to the BIA's interpretation of § 1225(b)(2) because the court's role was to interpret the statutory text enacted by Congress.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a noncitizen who entered the United States without inspection in 2004 and was arrested in the interior in 2025 may be held under the mandatory-detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), rather than the discretionary detention authority of § 1226(a).
2. Whether Petitioner was entitled to an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).
3. Whether the court was required to defer to the Board of Immigration Appeals' interpretation of § 1225(b)(2) in Matter of Yajure Hurtado.

Disposition

granted