Carlos Alberto Lopez-Cruz v. Marc Fields, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted Carlos Alberto Lopez-Cruz’s habeas petition challenging his immigration detention. The court held that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than § 1225, governs his detention and that his detention without an individualized custody hearing violated due process. The court ordered his immediate release or, alternatively, a constitutionally adequate bond hearing at which the government must justify continued detention by clear and convincing evidence.

Holdings

1. Section 1226(a) governed Lopez-Cruz's detention because he was not seeking admission after having entered and lived continuously in the United States and previously having been released into the country.
2. Lopez-Cruz's detention without access to an individualized hearing violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process.
3. The proper remedy was immediate release or, alternatively, a constitutionally adequate bond hearing under § 1226(a) at which the government bears the burden of proving dangerousness or flight risk by clear and convincing evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225, governed Lopez-Cruz's immigration detention.
2. Whether detention without access to an individualized bond hearing violated Lopez-Cruz's Fifth Amendment due process rights.
3. Whether the appropriate remedy was immediate release or a constitutionally adequate bond hearing at which the government bears the burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence.

Disposition

writ_granted