Summary
The court denied without prejudice as premature a detained Eritrean national’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 challenging detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231. The court concluded that the petitioner had not been detained for the six-month presumptively reasonable period recognized in Zadvydas v. Davis and had not shown that his removal was not reasonably foreseeable. The court retained the Detroit ICE Field Office Director and the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security as respondents and dismissed the United States Attorney General.
Court
United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division
Jurisdiction
United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division
Decision date
March 18, 2026
Docket number
1:26-cv-602
Disposition
other
Questions Presented
- Whether petitioner's challenge to his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 was ripe before he had been detained for six months after his re-arrest.
- Whether petitioner overcame the presumptively reasonable period of detention by showing that his removal was not reasonably foreseeable.
- Whether the Detroit ICE Field Office Director was the only proper respondent in the habeas action.
- Whether the United States Attorney General should remain as a respondent.
Holdings
- A challenge to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 is not ripe before the end of the presumptively reasonable six-month detention period unless the detainee shows that removal is not reasonably foreseeable.
- Petitioner did not overcome the presumption of reasonable detention because the record did not show that his removal to Eritrea was not reasonably foreseeable.
- The Detroit ICE Field Office Director was not the only proper respondent; the court retained that official and the Acting Secretary for Homeland Security to ensure that its orders would bind an official able to act if petitioner were transferred, while dismissing the United States Attorney General.
Court Document
Open PDFLoading document…