Aldair Rovildo Gonzalez Jacabo v. Kevin Raycraft et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan conditionally granted Aldair Rovildo Gonzalez Jacabo’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 § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs his detention and ordered Respondents to provide a bond hearing within five business days or release him, based in part on Fifth Amendment due process concerns.

Holdings

1. The court declined to enforce prudential exhaustion and held, alternatively, that waiver of exhaustion was appropriate.
2. Section 1226(a), rather than 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 United States when apprehended and arrested.
3. Petitioner's current detention under the mandatory-detention framework of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) violated the Fifth Amendment 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, the Acting Director of ICE, and the United States Secretary of Homeland Security as Respondents.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should enforce prudential exhaustion of administrative remedies when Petitioner had not appealed the bond decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
2. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) or 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) governed the detention of a noncitizen who had resided in the United States and was apprehended within the country.
3. Whether Petitioner's detention under the mandatory-detention framework of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause.
4. Which Respondents were proper custodians for purposes of habeas relief if Petitioner were transferred outside the Western District of Michigan.

Disposition

writ_granted