Marcelo Herazo Paso v. Kevin Raycraft et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan conditionally granted Marcelo Herazo Paso’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 provisions of § 1225(b)(2)(A), governed his detention and ordered Respondents to provide a bond hearing or release him. The court also retained the Detroit ICE Field Office Director and the Secretary of Homeland Security as Respondents and dismissed the Attorney General.

Holdings

1. The court declined to enforce prudential exhaustion and alternatively concluded that waiver of exhaustion was appropriate.
2. Section 1226(a), rather than 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs noncitizens who have resided in the United States and were already within the country 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 Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
4. The Detroit ICE Field Office Director was not the only proper respondent; the court retained that official and the Secretary of Homeland Security and dismissed the United States Attorney General.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should enforce prudential exhaustion of administrative remedies before considering petitioner's § 2241 challenge to immigration detention.
2. Whether petitioner's detention was governed by the mandatory-detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) or the discretionary detention authority of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).
3. Whether detention under the mandatory-detention framework violated petitioner's Fifth Amendment due process rights.
4. Whether the Detroit ICE Field Office Director was the only proper respondent in the habeas action.

Disposition

writ_granted