Summary
The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan conditionally granted Melvin Javier Cruz Ramos’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court held that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provision in § 1225(b)(2)(A), governed his detention and that his detention violated the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The court ordered a bond hearing within five business days or, alternatively, his release, and dismissed several respondents while retaining the ICE Detroit Field Office Director and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether prudential exhaustion of administrative remedies should be required before the court considers Petitioner’s § 2241 challenge to his immigration detention.
- Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) or the mandatory-detention provision in 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) governs the detention of a noncitizen who resided in the United States and was apprehended within the country.
- Whether Petitioner’s detention without a bond hearing under § 1225(b)(2)(A) violates the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.
- Which officials and entities are proper Respondents in a habeas action challenging immigration detention.
Holdings
- The court declined to enforce prudential exhaustion against Petitioner and held in the alternative that waiver of exhaustion was appropriate.
- Section 1226(a), not 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs the detention of noncitizens who have resided in the United States and were already within the country when apprehended and arrested.
- Petitioner’s current detention under the mandatory-detention framework of § 1225(b)(2)(A) violates the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.
- The ICE Detroit Field Office Director and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security were proper Respondents, while the United States Department of Homeland Security, the United States Attorney General, the Executive Office of Immigration Review, and the Warden of North Lake Processing Center were dismissed as Respondents.
Key quotations
“The Court will order Respondents to provide Petitioner with a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within five business days of the date of this Court’s Opinion and Judgment or, in the alternative, immediately release Petitioner from custody.” (Conclusion)
Factual background
Petitioner, a Honduran citizen, entered the United States without inspection in 2016 as an unaccompanied minor and was placed in removal proceedings, which an immigration judge later terminated without prejudice. ICE arrested him in October 2025 and detained him without providing a bond hearing after issuing a Notice to Appear charging inadmissibility under INA §§ 212(a)(6)(A)(i) and 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I). Before his detention, Petitioner lived in Chicago with his partner and their one-year-old United States citizen child.
Procedural history
Cruz Ramos filed a counseled § 2241 petition on December 3, 2025. The court ordered Respondents to show cause, Respondents filed a response, and Petitioner filed a reply. The court declined to enforce prudential exhaustion, reached the merits, conditionally granted habeas relief, retained the ICE Detroit Field Office Director and the Secretary of Homeland Security as Respondents, and dismissed the other named Respondents.
Remand instructions
Respondents must provide Petitioner with a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within five business days of the Opinion and Judgment or immediately release him. Respondents must file a status report within six business days certifying compliance and stating whether the hearing occurred, whether bond was granted or denied, the bond conditions if granted, and the reasons for denial if denied.