Mario Carmona Hernandez v. Scott Ladwig

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee grants Mario Carmona Hernandez’s 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition challenging his detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A). The court holds that § 1226(a), rather than § 1225(b), governs the detention of a noncitizen who has been residing in the interior of the United States and is therefore entitled to a bond hearing. The court orders Hernandez’s release, enjoins detention under § 1225(b)(2)(A), and directs that any detention under § 1226(a) be accompanied by the required bond hearing.

Holdings

1. The Court declined to require exhaustion of administrative remedies because Congress had not imposed a statutory exhaustion requirement, the BIA had already adopted the position underlying Petitioner's detention, and the BIA lacked authority to decide constitutional challenges.
2. Section 1226(a), not § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs the detention of a noncitizen who has been residing in the interior of the United States and was apprehended sometime after entry rather than while seeking admission at the border or a port of entry.
3. Because § 1226(a) governed Petitioner's detention, he was entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge, and his continued detention without that hearing violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Court should require Petitioner to exhaust administrative remedies by seeking a bond hearing before the BIA.
2. Whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) or 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) governs the detention of a noncitizen who has resided in the interior of the United States and was not detained while arriving at the border or port of entry.
3. Whether continued detention without a bond hearing violates the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.
4. Whether Petitioner was entitled to immediate release and an injunction against detention under § 1225(b)(2)(A).

Disposition

writ_granted