Ricardo De Leon Trejo v. Christopher S. Bullock and Tom Spangler

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee holds that Ricardo De Leon Trejo, an unlawfully present noncitizen detained in the interior of the United States, is subject to discretionary detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). The court grants the habeas petition in part and orders the Government to provide Trejo with a bond hearing within ten days. The court declines to order Trejo’s immediate release.

Holdings

1. An individual who entered without inspection, has been residing in the United States, and was apprehended in the interior while not arriving or currently seeking admission is appropriately detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than subject to mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2)(A).
2. Detention under § 1226(a) gives Petitioner an opportunity to seek bond from an Immigration Judge; it does not require immediate release on bond.
3. The § 2241 petition should be granted in part because Petitioner was detained under the wrong statutory provision without the bond hearing available under § 1226(a).

Questions Presented

1. Whether an individual who entered the United States without inspection, has lived in the interior for several years, and is apprehended away from the border is subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) or discretionary detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).
2. Whether detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) entitles Petitioner to immediate release or instead to an opportunity to seek bond before an Immigration Judge.
3. Whether habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 should require the Government to provide Petitioner with a bond hearing.

Disposition

other