Nabi Mohammed v. Samuel Olson, Kerry J. Forestal, Kristi Noem, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Pamela Bondi, and Executive Office for Immigration Review

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana grants Nabi Mohammed's petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court holds that his detention is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), making him eligible for an individualized bond hearing, rather than mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2). Respondents are ordered within seven days either to provide a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge or release Mohammed under reasonable conditions of supervision.

Holdings

1. Exhaustion was not required because pursuing a bond request before an Immigration Judge would have been futile in light of BIA decisions holding that Immigration Judges lacked authority to conduct bond hearings for noncitizens who entered without inspection.
2. Mohammed's post-parole detention was governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), not the mandatory-detention provision in § 1225(b)(2).
3. Detaining Mohammed under § 1226(a) without providing an opportunity for an individualized bond hearing violated the Immigration and Nationality Act and entitled him to habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3).

Questions Presented

1. Whether exhaustion of available administrative remedies should be required when Immigration Judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals would likely deny jurisdiction over a bond hearing under then-existing BIA precedent.
2. Whether Mohammed's post-parole detention was governed by the mandatory-detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) or the discretionary detention and bond provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).
3. Whether detention under § 1226(a) without an opportunity for an individualized bond hearing violated the Immigration and Nationality Act and entitled Mohammed to habeas relief.
4. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226(e) deprived the district court of jurisdiction to review Mohammed's challenge to detention without a bond hearing.

Disposition

granted