Antonio Angel Castillo and Juan Jose Leon Loza, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated v. Mary De Andra-Ybarra, El Paso Field Office Director, Dora A. Castro, Warden of Otero Processing Center, Kristi Noem, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Pamela Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, Sirce Owen, Acting Director of Executive Office for Immigration Review, Otero Immigration Court, and Executive Office for Immigration Review

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedNovember 21, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-01074
StatusUnknown

This text of Antonio Angel Castillo and Juan Jose Leon Loza, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated v. Mary De Andra-Ybarra, El Paso Field Office Director, Dora A. Castro, Warden of Otero Processing Center, Kristi Noem, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Pamela Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, Sirce Owen, Acting Director of Executive Office for Immigration Review, Otero Immigration Court, and Executive Office for Immigration Review (Antonio Angel Castillo and Juan Jose Leon Loza, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated v. Mary De Andra-Ybarra, El Paso Field Office Director, Dora A. Castro, Warden of Otero Processing Center, Kristi Noem, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Pamela Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, Sirce Owen, Acting Director of Executive Office for Immigration Review, Otero Immigration Court, and Executive Office for Immigration Review) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Antonio Angel Castillo and Juan Jose Leon Loza, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated v. Mary De Andra-Ybarra, El Paso Field Office Director, Dora A. Castro, Warden of Otero Processing Center, Kristi Noem, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Pamela Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, Sirce Owen, Acting Director of Executive Office for Immigration Review, Otero Immigration Court, and Executive Office for Immigration Review, (D.N.M. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

ANTONIO ANGEL CASTILLO and JUAN JOSE LEON LOZA, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated,

Petitioners,

v. Civ. No. 25-1074 JB/JFR

MARY DE ANDRA-YBARRA, El Paso Field Office Director, DORA A. CASTRO, Warden of Otero Processing Center, KRISTI NOEM, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, PAMELA BONDI, U.S. Attorney General, SIRCE OWEN, Acting Director of Executive Office for Immigration Review, OTERO IMMIGRATION COURT, and EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW,

Respondents.

MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S PROPOSED FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDED DISPOSITION1

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Petitioners’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Doc. 3, filed contemporaneously with a ‘Brief in Support,’ Doc. 4, on November 3, 2025, and Petitioners’ Amended Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, filed November 6, 2025, Doc. 5. The Court held a motion hearing on November 19, 2025. See Docs. 6-7. The undersigned, having reviewed the record and relevant law, recommends that Petitioners’ Amended Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Doc. 5) be GRANTED IN PART and

1 By an ‘Order of Reference Relating to Prisoner Cases’ filed October 31, 2025, the presiding judge referred this matter to the undersigned to conduct hearings as warranted and to perform any legal analysis required to recommend an ultimate disposition of the case, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 636(b)(1)(B), (b)(3), and Va. Beach Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Wood, 901 F.2d 849 (10th Cir. 1990). Doc. 2. DENIED IN PART, as specified herein. The undersigned further recommends that Petitioners’ original Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Doc. 3) be DENIED AS MOOT. I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 1, 2025, Petitioners Antonio Angel Castillo (“Castillo”) and Juan Jose Leon Loza (“Loza”) filed a ‘Class Action Complaint and Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus’ (“Petition”). See generally Doc. 1. Both Petitioners are noncitizens detained at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico. See id. at 1, 4 ¶ 11. Petitioners seek to represent two classes of noncitizens apprehended and processed in New Mexico: (1) a “Bond Denial Class,” for Respondents’ alleged misapplication of the mandatory detention provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) to entirely deny bond hearings to detainees apprehended in the interior, who would otherwise be entitled to a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a); and (2) a “Bond Appeal Class,” for Respondents’ alleged systematic invocation of the automatic stay provisions set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.19(i)(2) by filing Form EOIR-43 whenever a detainee receives a favorable bond decision, ergo effectively rendering the 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) bond hearing process

illusory. See Doc. 1 at 4-5 ¶¶ 10-12, 11 ¶ 32, 12 ¶ 35, 17-19 ¶¶ 55-64. Based on this alleged misconduct, Petitioners assert four causes of action. Id. at 19-22 ¶¶ 65-81. With respect to the alleged misclassification of detainees (i.e., the Bond Hearing Class), Petitioners allege violations of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), Doc. 1 at 19-20 ¶¶ 65-68 (Count 1), and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq., Doc. 1 at 20 ¶¶ 69-72 (Count 2). As to the allegedly impermissible automatic stay (i.e., the Bond Appeal Class), Petitioners allege violations of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, Doc. 1 at 20-21 ¶¶ 73-76 (Count 3), and the APA, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq., Doc. 1 at 21-22 ¶¶ 77-81 (Count 4). Petitioners assert these claims against: (1) Mary de Andra-Ybarra, the Field Office Director of the El Paso Field Office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (“ICE”) Enforcement and Removal Operations division, Doc. 1 at 7 ¶ 20; (2) Dora A. Castro, the Warden of Otero Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico, id. at 8 ¶ 21; (3) Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), id. at ¶ 22; (4) Pamela Bondi, the U.S. Attorney General, id. at ¶ 24; (5) Sirce Owen, the Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, id. at 9

¶ 26; (6) the Otero Immigration Court, id. at ¶ 27; and (7) the Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR”), id. at 8 ¶ 25. All individually named Respondents (i.e., Andra-Ybarra, Castro, Noem, Bondi, and Owen) are sued in their official capacities. See id. at 7-9 ¶¶ 20-22, 24, 26. The Court held a motion hearing on Petitioners’ Amended Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (Doc. 5) on November 19, 2025. See Docs. 6-7. Although Defendants have yet to file appearances, Ryan Posey, an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”) for the District of New Mexico, attended on behalf of the Government Defendants. See Doc. 7. II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The source of each Petitioner’s claim rise from DHS’ ‘Interim Guidance Regarding Detention Authority for Applicants for Admission’ issued on July 8, 2025. See generally Doc. 4 at 13-15. This guidance declared that all people who entered the U.S. without inspection were deemed “applicants for admission” under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), and were therefore subject to mandatory detention. See id. On September 5, 2025, the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decided Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I. & N. Dec. 216 (BIA 2025). The BIA adopted the argument presented in the ‘Interim Guidance Regarding Detention Authority for Applicants for Admission’ and held that Immigration Judges (“IJs”) lack authority to hear bond requests for noncitizens who are present in the U.S. without admission. See id. A. Petitioner Loza

Petitioner Loza is forty-nine years old and a citizen and national of Mexico. Doc. 1 at 16 ¶ 52. He first arrived in the U.S. around August 1999, without inspection. Id.; see also Doc. 4 at 7 (“Petitioners previously entered the United States without inspection . . . .”). Petitioner Loza resides in New Mexico, where he owns two restaurants (one in Artesia, New Mexico, and the other in Ruidoso, New Mexico) that, in total, employs twenty-five people. See Doc. 1 at 7 ¶ 19; Doc. 5 at 11 ¶¶ 5-6. Additionally, Petitioner Loza has three children who are U.S. citizens, two of whom he financially supports while they attend college. See Doc. 1 at 7 ¶ 19; Doc. 5 at 11 ¶ 4. On August 16, 2025, Petitioner Loza “was detained at a check point located in the interior of the United States,” and has since been held at the Otero County Processing Center. Id. at 16 ¶ 52. Despite being detained in the interior of the U.S., and the above-mentioned facts

about Petitioner Loza’s pre-detention residence and involvement in the U.S., he was deemed an “applicant for admission” ineligible for a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2). Doc. 1 at 17 ¶ 54. In further support that Petitioner Loza was misclassified as an “applicant for admission,” the Petition also notes that Petitioner Loza was previously detained but granted bond by an IJ around February 2020. Id. B. Petitioner Castillo

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Antonio Angel Castillo and Juan Jose Leon Loza, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated v. Mary De Andra-Ybarra, El Paso Field Office Director, Dora A. Castro, Warden of Otero Processing Center, Kristi Noem, Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Pamela Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, Sirce Owen, Acting Director of Executive Office for Immigration Review, Otero Immigration Court, and Executive Office for Immigration Review, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/antonio-angel-castillo-and-juan-jose-leon-loza-individually-and-on-behalf-nmd-2025.