Harpreet Singh v. Warden of the Golden State Annex Detention Facility et al.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 HARPREET SINGH, 11 Petitioner, No. 1:26-cv-00209-TLN-CKD 12 v. 13 WARDEN OF THE GOLDEN STATE ORDER ANNEX DETENTION FACILITY et al., 14 Respondents. 15

16 Petitioner Harpreet Singh (“Petitioner”), an immigration detainee who is representing 17 himself, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Based on the 18 substance of Petitioner’s brief and the relief requested therein, the Court construes Petitioner’s 19 pleading as a motion for a temporary restraining order. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 20 (1976) (stating that pleadings by pro se litigants must be held to less stringent standards than 21 formal pleadings drafted by lawyers). 22 Respondents shall file a response to Petitioner’s request by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, 23 January 15, 2026. Any opposition shall provide the Court with copies of all referenced/relevant 24 portions of Petitioner’s A-File and any and all available records related to Petitioner’s allegations. 25 Pending the Court’s ruling on this petition, Respondents shall not take any action to 26 transfer Petitioner out of this District. See F.T.C. v. Dean Foods Co., 384 U.S. 597, 608 (1966) 27 (acknowledging the Court’s “express authority under the All Writs Act to issue such temporary 28 1 injunctions as may be necessary to protect its own jurisdiction”). 2 Based on the facts surrounding Petitioner’s detention, the Court provisionally authorizes 3 Petitioner to proceed in forma pauperis. See 28 U.S.C. § 1914. 4 In light of the complexity of the legal issues involved, the Court has determined that the 5 interests of justice require the appointment of counsel for Petitioner. See 18 U.S.C. § 6 3006A(a)(2)(B); see also Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Within seven 7 days from the date of this order, the appointing authority for the Eastern District of California 8 shall identify counsel and send counsel’s contact information to Michele Krueger, Courtroom 9 Deputy for Chief Judge Troy Nunley, via email at mkrueger@caed.uscourts.gov, who shall 10 update the docket to reflect counsel’s appointment. If counsel is not a member of the Eastern 11 District of California Criminal Justice Act (“CJA”) Panel, the Court hereby authorizes them to 12 serve as CJA counsel for petitioner for the duration of the proceedings in this Court pursuant to 13 Local Rule 180(b)(1). 14 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 15 1. Respondents shall file a response to Petitioner’s request by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, 16 January 15, 2026; 17 2. In order to ensure this Court’s jurisdiction to resolve the pending § 2241 petition, 18 Respondent shall not transfer Petitioner to another detention center outside of this 19 judicial district, pending further order of the Court; 20 3. Petitioner is provisionally authorized to proceed in forma pauperis, subject to 21 Petitioner filing an application to proceed in forma pauperis by February 10, 2026. 22 The Clerk of the Court is directed to serve Petitioner with an application to proceed in 23 forma pauperis; 24 4. Within seven days from the date of this order, the appointing authority for the Eastern 25 District of California shall identify counsel and send counsel’s contact information to 26 Michele Krueger, Courtroom Deputy for Chief Judge Troy Nunley, who shall update 27 the docket to reflect counsel’s appointment; 28 5. The Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this order on the Federal Defender, 1 Attention: Habeas Appointment, along with a copy of the § 2241 petition; 2 6. The Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this order together with a copy of 3 Petitioner’s application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on 4 the United States Attorney. 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 Date: January 13, 2026 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28