Fabian Dean Russell v. Warden of the California City Immigration Processing Center, et al.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided May 27, 2026·No. 1:26-cv-01231·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

FABIAN DEAN RUSSELL, Case No. 1:26-cv-01231-JLT-EPG-HC

Petitioner, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION TO GRANT PETITION FOR WRIT OF v. HABEAS CORPUS AND DIRECT RESPONDENT TO PROVIDE PETITIONER IMMIGRATION PROCESSING CENTER, et IMMIGRATION JUDGE al.,

Respondents.

Petitioner, represented by counsel, is a federal immigration detainee proceeding with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. For the reasons set forth herein, the undersigned recommends granting the petition for writ of habeas corpus and ordering that Respondents provide Petitioner with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge at which the government must justify Petitioner’s continued detention by clear and convincing evidence. I. Petitioner is a citizen of Jamaica who entered Canada as a landed immigrant in 1995. In 1998 Petitioner was paroled into the United States for criminal prosecution and after he received a one-year sentence for being a criminal in possession of a loaded firearm, Petitioner was placed in removal proceedings and ordered removed from the United States. After Petitioner was removed to Canada, he reentered the United States at an unknown time and place. (ECF No. 22-1 at 3.1) On June 16, 2023, Petitioner was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, in violation of California Penal Code section 245(a)(1), and received a three-year sentence. At the conclusion of his sentence, Petitioner was released to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) on January 16, 2025, and placed into removal proceedings. (ECF No. 18 at 3; ECF No. 22-1 at 2–3.) DHS alleged that Petitioner was inadmissible to the United States because he was present without admission or parole, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), and because he had been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(I). (ECF No. 22-1 at 5–8.) On September 25, 2025, Petitioner was ordered removed to Canada, or in the alternative, to Jamaica. (ECF No. 10-1.) Petitioner appealed the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), and the appeal is still pending. (ECF No. 22-2.) Petitioner was initially detained at Golden State Annex, and on or about September 6, 2025, Petitioner was transferred to California City Detention Center. In the entire time Petitioner has been in immigration detention, he has not received a bond hearing. (ECF No. 18 at 3.) On February 12, 2026, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus. (ECF No. 1.) On February 20, 2026, Respondent filed a response. (ECF No. 10.) On March 2, 2026, the Federal Defender filed an amicus motion to appoint counsel. (ECF No. 12.) On March 3, 2026, the Court appointed counsel. (ECF No. 13.) On March 31, 2026, Petitioner filed a first amended petition (“FAP”) and a motion for temporary restraining order (“TRO”) challenging Petitioner’s detention on substantive and procedural due process grounds. (ECF Nos. 18, 19.) The assigned district judge denied the motion for TRO as untimely. (ECF No. 20.) On April 3, 2026, Respondents filed an answer. (ECF No. 22.) On April 14, 2026, Petitioner filed a reply. (ECF No. 23.) II. A. Immigration Detention Statutes and Bond Hearings Congress has enacted a complex statutory scheme governing the detention of noncitizens alien falls within this statutory scheme can affect whether his detention is mandatory or discretionary, as well as the kind of review process available to him if he wishes to contest the necessity of his detention.” Prieto-Romero v. Clark, 534 F.3d 1053, 1057 (9th Cir. 2008). Here, Petitioner is detained pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c),2 which provides in pertinent part that the “Attorney General shall take into custody any alien who . . . is inadmissible by reason of having committed any offense covered in section 1182(a)(2) of this title[.]” 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c)(1)(A). Section 1226(c) “specif[ies] that the Attorney General ‘may release’ one of those aliens ‘only if the Attorney General decides’ both that doing so is necessary for witness- protection purposes and that the alien will not pose a danger or flight risk.” Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281, 303 (2018) (emphasis in original). In Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001), the Supreme Court addressed a challenge to prolonged detention under § 1231(a)(6) by noncitizens who “had been ordered removed by the government and all administrative and judicial review was exhausted, but their removal could not be effectuated because their designated countries either refused to accept them or the United States lacked a repatriation treaty with the receiving country.” Prieto–Romero, 534 F.3d at 1062 (citing Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 684–86). The Supreme Court held that § 1231(a)(6) does not authorize indefinite detention and “limits an alien’s post-removal-period detention to a period reasonably necessary to bring about that alien’s removal from the United States.” Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 689. Thus, after a presumptively reasonable detention period of six months, a noncitizen was entitled to release if “it has been determined that there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.” Id. at 701. In Demore v. Kim, 538 U.S. 510 (2003), the Supreme Court rejected a facial challenge to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c). The Supreme Court upheld its “longstanding view that the Government may constitutionally detain deportable aliens during the limited period necessary for their removal proceedings.” Id. at 526. The Supreme Court distinguished Zadvydas

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Fabian Dean Russell v. Warden of the California City Immigration Processing Center, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

Fabian Dean Russell v. Warden of the California City Immigration Processing Center, et al. (Fabian Dean Russell v. Warden of the California City Immigration Processing Center, et al.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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