Jose de Jesus Gonzalez Cortes v. Russell Holt, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and granted in part Jose de Jesus Gonzalez Cortes’s petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The court held that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than § 1225(b)(2), governs the petitioner’s detention and ordered respondents to provide an individualized bond hearing within seven days or release him. The court declined to decide the merits of the petitioner’s due process claim and dismissed that claim without prejudice.

Holdings

1. Section 1252(g) did not deprive the district court of jurisdiction because petitioner challenged the legality of his continued detention and lack of a bond hearing, not the commencement of removal proceedings, adjudication of removability, or execution of a removal order.
2. Section 1225(b)(2)(A) did not govern petitioner's detention because a noncitizen who had resided in the United States for many years and was not affirmatively taking present-tense steps to obtain lawful entry was not 'seeking admission' within the provision's plain language.
3. Because § 1225(b)(2)(A) did not apply, § 1226(a) governed petitioner's detention, entitling him to a prompt bond hearing before an immigration judge.
4. The court declined to reach the merits of petitioner's due process claim because the claim was premature after the court ordered a bond hearing or release; petitioner could renew the claim if respondents failed to provide the hearing or release him within seven days.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) deprived the district court of jurisdiction over a challenge to detention without a bond hearing.
2. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), rather than § 1226(a), governed the detention of a noncitizen who had resided in the United States for many years without being admitted and was not affirmatively seeking admission.
3. Whether the court should reach the merits of petitioner's Fifth Amendment due process claim after ordering a bond hearing or release.

Disposition

granted in part