Sergio Alfonzo Ramirez v. Jason Maydak, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky grants Sergio Alfonzo Ramirez’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court holds that 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), which mandates detention of certain applicants for admission, does not apply to Ramirez, a longtime resident who was not arriving in or actively seeking admission to the United States. The court concludes that Ramirez’s detention is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), entitling him to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

Holdings

1. Section 1226(a), rather than § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs the detention of Ramirez because he had entered and lived in the United States for nearly twenty years and was detained while already present in the country pending removal proceedings.
2. A noncitizen who entered the United States without inspection nearly twenty years earlier and is residing in the country is not necessarily 'seeking admission' merely because the person has not been lawfully admitted.
3. The entry-fiction doctrine did not apply to Ramirez because he was not stopped at the border, was not apprehended shortly after an unlawful entry, and was never paroled into the United States.
4. Ramirez's detention without an individualized bond hearing violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, and he was entitled to an individualized custody determination under § 1226(a).

Questions Presented

1. Whether Ramirez's immigration detention was governed by the mandatory-detention provision of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) or the discretionary detention provision of § 1226(a).
2. Whether a noncitizen who entered the United States without inspection nearly twenty years earlier is an arriving alien or is actively seeking admission for purposes of § 1225(b)(2)(A).
3. Whether detention without an individualized bond hearing violated Ramirez's rights under the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.
4. Whether the entry-fiction doctrine deprived Ramirez of ordinary due-process protections.

Disposition

writ_granted