Andris Santoya Martinez v. Kevin Raycraft et al.

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 3, 2026
Docket1:26-cv-00102
StatusUnknown

This text of Andris Santoya Martinez v. Kevin Raycraft et al. (Andris Santoya Martinez v. Kevin Raycraft et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andris Santoya Martinez v. Kevin Raycraft et al., (W.D. Mich. 2026).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION ______

ANDRIS SANTOYA MARTINEZ,

Petitioner, Case No. 1:26-cv-102

v. Honorable Paul L. Maloney

KEVIN RAYCRAFT et al.,

Respondents. ____________________________/

OPINION Petitioner, a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee currently detained at the North Lake Processing Center located in Baldwin, Lake County, Michigan, initiated this action by filing a counseled petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. (Pet., ECF No. 1.) For the following reasons, the Court will conditionally grant Petitioner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Discussion I. Procedural History In Petitioner’s § 2241 petition,1 Petitioner challenges the lawfulness of his current detention and asks the Court to, inter alia, assume jurisdiction over this matter and issue a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 either ordering Respondents to release Petitioner or ordering Respondents to conduct a bond hearing to satisfy the requirements of due process. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.31.)

1 Petitioner’s § 2241 petition was originally filed on behalf of six petitioners. (Pet., ECF No. 1.) On January 9, 2026, the Court entered an order, severing the claims of petitioners into separate actions. (ECF No. 9.) In an order entered on January 9, 2026, the Court directed Respondents to show cause, within three business days, why the writ of habeas corpus and other relief requested by Petitioner should not be granted. (Order, ECF No. 4.) Respondents filed their response on January 16, 2026, (ECF No. 7), and Petitioner filed his reply on January 22, 2026, (ECF No. 8). II. Factual Background

Petitioner is a citizen of Cuba. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.12). On October 15, 2023, Petitioner applied for admission into the United States at the Miami International Airport. (Notice to Appear (NTA), ECF No. 7-1, PageID.101.) At that time, Petitioner was paroled into the United States for two years pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5). (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.3, 13; NTA, ECF No. 4-1, PageID.101; Reply, ECF No. 8, PageID.116.) Petitioner subsequently filed an application for asylum, which remains pending. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.13; Resp., ECF No. 7, PageID.94.) In June 2025, the federal government stated that it was terminating grants of humanitarian parole because it had cancelled “CHNV parole program” and was encouraging asylum seekers to self–deport. See also Press Release, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/12/dhs-issues-notices- termination-chnv-parole-program-encourages-parolees-self-deport (June 12, 2025).

On September 8, 2025, ICE agents arrested Petitioner. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.8.) The Department of Homeland Security issued Petitioner a Form I-862, NTA, charging Petitioner with inadmissibility under § 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) because Petitioner is an immigrant “who, at the time of application for admission, is not in possession of a valid unexpired [immigration or travel document].” (NTA, ECF No. 7-1, PageID.104.) III. Habeas Corpus Legal Standard The Constitution guarantees that the writ of habeas corpus is “available to every individual detained within the United States.” Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507, 525 (2004) (citing U.S. Const., Art I, § 9, cl. 2). Section 2241 of Title 28 confers the federal courts with the power to issue writs of habeas corpus to persons “in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241. This includes challenges by non-citizens in immigration- related matters. See Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 687 (2001); see also A. A. R. P. v. Trump, 145 S. Ct. 1364, 1367 (2025). IV. Exhaustion

Respondents argue that the Court should deny Petitioner’s request for habeas corpus relief because Petitioner has not exhausted his administrative remedies. Here, no applicable statute or rule mandates administrative exhaustion by Petitioner. Thus, whether to require exhaustion is within this Court’s “sound judicial discretion.” See Shearson v. Holder, 725 F.3d 588, 593–94 (6th Cir. 2013) (quoting McCarthy v. Madigan, 503 U.S. 140, 144 (1992)). “Courts have described an implied requirement to raise issues with an agency as a ‘judge- made,’ ‘prudential,’ or ‘common law’ duty to exhaust,” Island Creek Coal Co. v. Bryan, 937 F.3d 738, 746 (6th Cir. 2019) (citations omitted), and such a court-made exhaustion rule must comply with statutory schemes and Congressional intent, Shearson, 725 F.3d at 593–94. Notably, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has not yet decided “whether courts should

impose administrative exhaustion in the context of a noncitizen’s habeas petition for unlawful mandatory detention,” Pizarro Reyes v. Raycraft, No. 25-cv-12546, 2025 WL 2609425, at *3 (E.D. Mich. Sep. 9, 2025) (citing Hernandez Torrealba v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., No. 1:25-cv- 1621, 2025 WL 2444114, at *8 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 25, 2025)), and “[t]he Sixth Circuit has not formally adopted a standard for determining when prudential exhaustion applies.” Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, No. 2:25-cv-12486, 2025 WL 2496379, at *4 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 29, 2025). However, courts within the Sixth Circuit “have applied the three-factor test, set forth in United States v. California Care Corp., 709 F.2d 1241, 1248 (9th Cir. 1983) (derived from McGee v. United States, 402 U.S. 479, 484[ (1971)]; McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185, 193–95[ (1969)),]” to determine whether prudential exhaustion should be required. Id. Under this three-factor test, Courts may require prudential exhaustion when: (1) agency expertise makes agency consideration necessary to generate a proper record and reach a proper decision; (2) relaxation of the requirement would encourage the deliberate bypass of the administrative scheme; and (3) administrative review is likely to allow the agency to correct its own mistakes and to preclude the need for judicial review. Id. (citing Shweika v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., No. 1:06-cv-11781, 2015 WL 6541689, at *12 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 29, 2015)). Upon consideration of these factors, this Court concludes that prudential exhaustion should not be required in Petitioner’s case. Here, Petitioner’s § 2241 petition presents principally legal questions of statutory interpretation, which do not require the record that would be developed if the Court required Petitioner to exhaust his administrative remedies. Moreover, this Court is not bound by, and is not required to give deference to, any agency interpretation of a statute. See Loper Bright Enters. v.

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Andris Santoya Martinez v. Kevin Raycraft et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andris-santoya-martinez-v-kevin-raycraft-et-al-miwd-2026.