Jose Hernandez-Blanco and David Hernandez-Gomez v. Warden, Dr. Scarlet Grant, et al.

Summary

This Report and Recommendation addresses Jose Hernandez-Blanco’s 28 U.S.C. § 2241 habeas petition challenging his detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The magistrate judge concludes that 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), rather than the mandatory-detention provision in § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs the detention of a noncitizen who previously entered and resided in the United States. The recommendation is to grant the petition in part and require Respondents to provide a bond hearing within five business days or release Petitioner if no hearing occurs within that period.

Holdings

1. The court had jurisdiction under § 2241 because the petition challenged the legality of detention rather than the decision to commence, adjudicate, or execute removal proceedings.
2. The petitioner's detention was governed by § 1226(a), not § 1225(b)(2)(A), because he had already entered and resided in the United States and was not actively seeking admission at the border or port of entry.
3. The report recommended declining to reach the merits of the due-process claim because the recommended § 1226(a) bond hearing provided the relief sought.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court had jurisdiction under § 2241 to consider a challenge to the petitioner's immigration detention notwithstanding 8 U.S.C. §§ 1252(g) and 1252(b)(9).
2. Whether the petitioner's detention was governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), which does not provide for a bond hearing, or by § 1226(a), which provides for discretionary detention and a bond hearing.
3. Whether the court should decide the petitioner's Fifth Amendment due-process claim after recommending a bond hearing under § 1226(a).

Disposition

other