Daritza Esquerra-Toledo v. Kevin Raycraft

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan conditionally granted Daritza Esquerra-Toledo’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 her detention and ordered Respondent to provide a bond hearing within five business days or release her, subject to filing a compliance status report.

Holdings

1. The court declined to enforce prudential exhaustion against Petitioner and alternatively held 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 Due Process Clause.

Questions Presented

1. Whether prudential exhaustion should bar Petitioner's § 2241 challenge to her immigration detention.
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 Due Process Clause.
4. What relief should be ordered if the detention was unlawful.

Disposition

writ_granted