Fermin Lorenzo Cholula Rios v. Kristi Noem, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico grants Fermin Lorenzo Cholula Rios’s habeas petition challenging his immigration detention. The court holds that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provisions of § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs because he entered the United States decades earlier and was not apprehended at or near the border. The court orders a prompt bond hearing before an immigration judge, with the Government required to prove by clear and convincing evidence that detention is warranted.

Holdings

1. Section 1226 governed Cholula Rios's detention because he entered the United States decades before his arrest, was not apprehended at or near the border, and entered before IIRIRA created § 1225's mandatory-detention scheme.
2. The Government must provide a prompt bond hearing and prove by clear and convincing evidence that Cholula Rios is a flight risk or danger to the community.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provision in § 1225(b)(2)(A), governed the detention of a noncitizen who entered the United States decades earlier and was arrested away from the border.
2. Whether the proper habeas remedy was a prompt individualized bond hearing at which the Government bears the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that continued detention is justified.

Disposition

writ_granted