Lin Kiankang v. Todd Lyons, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey granted a 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition challenging mandatory immigration detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) without an individualized bond hearing. Relying on its interpretation in Sandhu v. Tsoukaris, the Court held that the petitioner’s detention was governed by the discretionary detention authority of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and ordered an individualized bond hearing within seven days. The document contains an internal discrepancy between the caption identifying the petitioner as Lin Kiankang and the text identifying the petitioner as Juan Carlos Villa Morocho.

Holdings

1. A noncitizen who is already present in the United States and is arrested in the interior is detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provision of § 1225(b)(2), which governs noncitizens seeking admission.
2. Because Petitioner is detained under § 1226(a), Respondents must provide him with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge.
3. The Court was not required to defer to the BIA's interpretation of § 1225 because statutory interpretation is a judicial function.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a noncitizen who entered the United States without inspection in 2024 and was arrested inside the country is detained under the mandatory-detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) or the discretionary detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).
2. Whether Petitioner was entitled to an individualized bond hearing 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

writ_granted