Dennis Villanueva Abarca (A# 222-557-113), et al. v. Christopher Chestnut, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJune 24, 2026
Docket1:26-cv-03630
StatusUnknown

This text of Dennis Villanueva Abarca (A# 222-557-113), et al. v. Christopher Chestnut, et al. (Dennis Villanueva Abarca (A# 222-557-113), et al. v. Christopher Chestnut, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dennis Villanueva Abarca (A# 222-557-113), et al. v. Christopher Chestnut, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DENNIS VILLANUEVA ABARCA (A# No. 1:26-cv-03630 DAD SCR 222-557-113), et al., 12 Petitioners, 13 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS v. 14 CHRISTOPHER CHESTNUT, et al., 15 Respondents. 16 17 18 Petitioners are federal immigration detainees who filed this habeas corpus action through 19 counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The matter was referred to a United States Magistrate 20 Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Local Rule 302. 21 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 22 Petitioners are seven citizens and nationals of Mexico currently detained at the California 23 City Correctional Center, within this judicial district: (1) Dennis Villanueva Abarca (A# 222-557- 24 113); (2) Felipe Hernandez Lucas (A# 221-248-871); (3) Raul Ramos Trinidad (A# 222-557- 25 103); (4) Ramiro Sanchez Serrano (A# 205-788-003); (5) Eusevio Santos Cordoba (AKA Usavio 26 Santos Cordeban) (A# 222-557-087); (6) Jose Guadalupe Camacho Ordonez (A# 222-557-143); 27 and (7) Marcelo Alcala Hernandez (A# 222-557-356). ECF No. 1 at 3-4, ¶¶ 8-14, 17. All seven 28 entered the United States without inspection and resided within the interior of the country for at 1 least twenty years before their arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) in 2 different cities across Utah in April or May of 2026. Id. at 3, ¶ 7. Petitioners state that they have 3 no criminal records. Id. at 11, ¶ 83. 4 Petitioners filed this § 2241 petition on May 11, 2026, asserting that Respondents are 5 unlawfully subjecting them to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2). ECF No. 1. 6 The petition raises three causes of action: (1) Violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act 7 (“INA”); (2) Violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment (Procedural Due 8 Process); and (3) Violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment (Substantive Due 9 Process). Id. at 20-23, ¶¶ 132-155. By way of relief, Petitioners request, inter alia, their 10 immediate release if they are not given bond hearings within seven days of an order granting their 11 petition. Id. at 23. 12 Respondents filed two responsive pleadings. First, Respondents filed a motion to sever or 13 dismiss the petition for improper joinder. ECF No. 7. They argue that an “individual as-applied 14 due process-based habeas relief is not jointly available because each individual detainee’s 15 circumstance is different,” and specifically allege that the detention of two of the Petitioners, 16 Dennis Villanueva Abarca and Jose Guadalupe Camacho Ordonez, is governed by U.S.C. § 17 1226(c). Id. at 1-2. Respondents claim Villanueva Abarca is detained under § 1226(c)(1)(A) on 18 account of two August 7, 2007, convictions for fraud under Utah Code § 76-6-1102 that 19 constitute crimes involving moral turpitude (“CIMT”) under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). ECF 20 No. 8 at 3-4. Respondents assert Camacho Ordonez’s April 28, 2026, arrest for domestic 21 violence and assault fall within § 1226(c)(1)(E), as amended by the Laken Riley Act (“LRA”). 22 ECF No. 7 at 2; ECF No. 8 at 5; ECF No. 8-8 at 2. The undersigned addresses the Parties’ 23 severance arguments at length below. 24 Respondents also filed a response/motion to dismiss the petition on its merits. ECF No. 8. 25 Respondents again dispute that Petitioners Villanueva Abarca and Camacho Ordonez lack 26 criminal records and maintain that their mandatory detention is authorized by § 1226(c). ECF 27 No. 8 at 3-5. Respondents further argue that if Petitioners wish to challenge the applicability of § 28 1226(c) to their offenses, they must exhaust administrative remedies through a hearing pursuant 1 to Matter of Joseph, 22 I. & N. Dec. 799 (BIA 1999). Id. at 2-3. Citing the minority-view of 2 cases, Respondents argue the remaining five Petitioners are applicants for admission subject to 3 mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2). Id. at 6 (citing Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi, 4 et al.,166 F.4th 494 (5th Cir. 2026) and Avila v. Bondi, 170 F.4th 1128, 1133 (8th Cir. 2026)). 5 Id. at 4-6. 6 The crux of Petitioners’ merits argument on reply is that Respondent’s application of both 7 § 1226(c) and § 1225(b)(2) to seven, similarly situated noncitizens is internally contradictory. 8 “The Government is arguing an impossibility: that Villanueva and Camacho must exhaust their § 9 1226(c) objections before an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) who (due to the Government’s 10 1225(b)(2)(A) theory) has no jurisdiction to hear or consider them.” ECF No. 10 at 4. Petitioners 11 then dispute at length Respondents’ contention that § 1226(c) applies to Villanueva Abarca and 12 Camacho Ordonez. Id. at 5-11. Addressing Respondents’ invocation of § 1225(b)(2), Petitioners 13 argue that, inter alia, Respondents’ position is inconsistent with the statute and the weight of 14 cases in this judicial district. Id. at 11-12. Finally, Petitioners reiterate that the remedy they seek 15 is “a hearing, not release outright, and that remedy is common to all.” Id. at 17. 16 The undersigned will turn first to Respondents’ motion to dismiss or sever the petition for 17 improper joinder before turning to the Parties’ arguments on the merits of the petition 18 DISCUSSION 19 I. Motion To Dismiss or Sever Petition for Improper Joinder 20 Respondents again seek to dismiss or sever the petition on grounds the Petitioners raise 21 factually distinct, as-applied challenges to their detention. ECF No. 7. In opposition, Petitioners 22 urge the Court to apply Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 and argue that the factual similarities 23 between their cases and their shared “core claim”—i.e., that they are detained under § 1225(b)(2) 24 pursuant to the BIA’s decision in Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I&N Dec. 216 (BIA 2025), which 25 is contrary to the INA and Constitution—satisfy the Rule’s requirements. ECF No. 9. 26 The undersigned agrees that Rule 20 governs Respondents’ motion: 27 The Habeas Rules do not specifically address whether individuals may jointly file a habeas petition. The Court 28 therefore considers whether joinder is appropriate under the 1 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts 2 (“Habeas Rules”), Rule 12 (“The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to the extent that they are not inconsistent with any 3 statutory provisions or these rules, may be applied to a proceeding under these rules.”). See also Habeas Rule 1(b) 4 (providing that a “district court may apply any or all of these rules” to Section 2241 petitions). 5 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 20 provides that plaintiffs 6 “may join together in one action” where: (1) “any right to relief [is asserted] jointly, severally, or in the alternative with respect 7 to or arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences”; and (2) “any question of law 8 or fact common to all plaintiffs will arise in the action.” Fed. R.

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Bluebook (online)
Dennis Villanueva Abarca (A# 222-557-113), et al. v. Christopher Chestnut, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dennis-villanueva-abarca-a-222-557-113-et-al-v-christopher-chestnut-caed-2026.