Marco Corona Lopez v. Kevin Raycraft et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan conditionally granted Marco Corona Lopez’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court held that detention of a noncitizen apprehended within the United States was governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provision in § 1225(b)(2)(A), and that the detention framework violated the petitioner’s Fifth Amendment due process rights. Respondents were ordered to provide a bond hearing within five business days or immediately release the petitioner, and certain respondents were dismissed.

Holdings

1. The court declined to enforce prudential exhaustion against Petitioner and alternatively concluded that waiver of exhaustion was appropriate.
2. Section 1226(a), not § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs noncitizens who have resided in the United States and were already within the United States when apprehended and arrested.
3. Petitioner's current detention under the mandatory-detention framework of § 1225(b)(2)(A) violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.
4. The Detroit ICE Field Office Director was not the only proper respondent. The court retained the Detroit ICE Field Office Director and the Secretary of Homeland Security, while dismissing the Department of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should enforce prudential exhaustion of administrative remedies before considering Petitioner's § 2241 detention challenge.
2. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), rather than 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), governed Petitioner's detention.
3. Whether Petitioner's detention under the mandatory-detention framework of § 1225(b)(2)(A) violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.
4. Whether the Detroit ICE Field Office Director was the only proper respondent.
5. What relief and respondent configuration were appropriate if habeas relief was granted.

Disposition

writ_granted