Daniel Alejandro Ruiz Linares v. Scott Ladwig, Acting Director of New Orleans Field Office of ICE; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Summary

The court grants Daniel Alejandro Ruiz Linares’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, holding that his detention is governed by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than the mandatory-detention provision in § 1225(b)(2)(A). The court concludes that he was entitled to a bond hearing and that detention without such a hearing violated due process. Respondents are ordered to release him immediately, are enjoined from detaining him under § 1225(b)(2)(A), and must file a compliance status report.

Holdings

1. Exhaustion is excused because the legal question is fit for judicial resolution, delay would cause hardship, and exhaustion would be futile given BIA's predetermined position.
2. Section 1226(a), not § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs the detention of an undocumented immigrant who has been continuously present in the United States for over two years.
3. Petitioner's detention without a bond hearing under § 1225(b)(2)(A) violates his Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Questions Presented

1. Whether petitioner must exhaust administrative remedies before seeking habeas relief
2. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) or § 1226(a) governs detention of undocumented immigrant present in US for over two years
3. Whether detention without bond hearing violates Fifth Amendment due process

Disposition

writ_granted