(HC) Cabrera Espinoza v. Becerra

District Court, E.D. California·Decided June 2, 2025·No. 1:24-cv-01118·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ADRIAN CABRERA ESPINOZA, Case No. 1:24-cv-01118-SAB-HC

Petitioner, ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, TERMINATING v. PETITIONER’S REQUEST FOR ADJUDICATION, DENYING MINGA WOFFORD, et al., PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR STATUS CONFERENCE, AND DIRECTING CLERK Respondents. OF COURT TO CLOSE CASE

(ECF Nos. 1, 70, 74)

Petitioner, represented by counsel, is an immigration detainee proceeding with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a United States Magistrate Judge. (ECF Nos. 60, 62, 63.) I. Petitioner was born in Mexico, came to the United States with his parents when he was a teenager, and settled in the Central Valley. (ECF No. 1 at 61.) In 2001, Petitioner married his wife, a United States citizen, and he became a legal permanent resident in 2003. Petitioner and his wife have five children. (ECF No. 1 at 6.) In 2004, Petitioner was convicted of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse and was sentenced to serve thirty days in jail. (ECF No. 18-2.) In 2014, Petitioner was convicted of soliciting a minor to commit a felony, extortion, loan sharking, and preventing or dissuading witnesses from providing testimony, and was sentenced to an imprisonment term of five years. (ECF No. 18-4.) Petitioner completed his sentence and was released from state prison in August 2015. (ECF No. 1 at 8.) On August 3, 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) arrested Petitioner, served him with a Notice to Appear, and charged Petitioner as removable based on the 2004 conviction. (ECF No. 18-5.) On September 16, 2015, an immigration judge (“IJ”) dismissed Petitioner’s proceedings without prejudice. (ECF No. 18-6.) On November 17, 2022, Petitioner was arrested after a domestic incident. (ECF No. 1 at 9; ECF No. 18-3.) The police transferred Petitioner to ICE custody on November 22, 2022. (ECF No. 1 at 9.) ICE served Petitioner with a Notice to Appear and charged him as removable based on his 2014 convictions for extortion and witness tampering.2 That same day, ICE reviewed Petitioner’s custody status pursuant to Fraihat v. U.S. Immigr. & Customs Enf’t, 445 F. Supp. 3d 709 (C.D. Cal. 2020), vacated, 2022 WL 20212706 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 16, 2022).3 It was determined that Petitioner should remain in custody because he posed a risk to public safety based on his criminal history, and Petitioner was transferred to the Golden State Annex in McFarland, California. (ECF No. 18 at 5.) On April 20, 2023, an IJ denied Petitioner’s application for relief and ordered Petitioner removed to Mexico. (ECF No. 18-9.) On or about May 22, 2023, Petitioner filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). (ECF No. 18 at 6.) On or about June 23, 2023, Petitioner filed a motion for a prolonged detention bond hearing. (Id.) On June 26, 2023, an IJ denied the request for custody redetermination for lack of jurisdiction. (ECF No. 18-10.) On July

2 Petitioner is pursuing post-conviction relief for his 2014 convictions. He filed a motion pursuant to California Penal Code sections 1473.7 and 1018 in the Tulare County Superior Court, which denied the motion on June 3, 2024. Petitioner filed an appeal of this denial to the California Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District. (ECF No. 64-1 at 4.) 3 The district court “certified two nationwide classes and issued a preliminary injunction that applied to all immigration detention facilities in the United States. The injunction imposed a broad range of obligations on the federal government, including ordering ICE to identify and track detainees with certain risk factors that the district court identified; requiring ICE to issue a comprehensive Performance Standard covering a myriad of COVID-19-related topics, such as social distancing and cleaning policies; and setting directives for releasing detainees from custody altogether.” Fraihat v. U.S. Immigr. & Customs Enf’t, 16 F.4th 613, 17, 2023, Petitioner filed an appeal with the BIA, and on September 25, 2023, the BIA affirmed the denial for custody redetermination. (ECF No. 18 at 6; ECF No. 18-11.) On September 26, 2023, the BIA dismissed Petitioner’s appeal of the IJ’s order of removal and denial of relief from removal. (ECF No. 18-12.) On October 5, 2023, Petitioner filed a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit along with a motion to stay removal, which automatically stayed Petitioner’s order of removal until further order of the court pursuant to Ninth Circuit General Order 6.4(c)(1). (ECF No. 18-13; ECF No. 1-3 at 6.) On November 14, 2023, Petitioner filed the instant petition for writ of habeas corpus and a motion for preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. (ECF Nos. 1, 3.) Petitioner asserts violations of the Fifth Amendment, arguing that his prolonged detention violates his right to substantive due process and prolonged categorical detention without an individualized determination violates procedural due process. (ECF No. 1.) On December 20, 2023, a hearing was held, the motion for preliminary injunction was granted, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ordered that within fourteen days, Respondents must provide Petitioner with an individualized bond hearing before an immigration judge at which the government shall bear the burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Petitioner’s continued detention remains warranted to protect the public or prevent Petitioner from fleeing. (ECF Nos. 21, 22.) On December 28, 2023, an IJ held a bond hearing and concluded that, while Petitioner does not pose a danger to the community, he poses a flight risk “that no amount of bond conditions” can mitigate, thereby warranting his continued detention. (ECF No. 26-2 at 25.) On January 29, 2024, Petitioner filed a motion for temporary restraining order, arguing that the immigration judge failed to consider alternatives to detention in violation of his constitutional procedural due process rights and requesting the court to require the immigration judge to consider those alternatives at a second bond hearing. (ECF No. 23.) A hearing was held, and on March 11, 2024, the motion was denied. (ECF Nos. 32, 33.) On April 10, 2024, the BIA dismissed Petitioner’s appeal of the IJ’s decision denying bond. (ECF No. 36 at 5; ECF No. 37- On May 22, 2024, Petitioner filed a petition for a U visa with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). (ECF No. 64-1 at 3.) That petition is still pending, as of January 17, 2025. (ECF No. 68 at 9.) On September 11, 2024, the Ninth Circuit denied Petitioner’s petition for review. (ECF No. 64-1 at 2.) That same day, Petitioner filed a motion to reopen his removal proceedings with the BIA. (ECF No. 64-1 at 3.) On January 13, 2025, the BIA denied the motion. (ECF No. 68 at 4.) On January 17, 2025, Petitioner filed a petition for review of the BIA’s decision dismissing his motion to reopen his immigration proceedings along with a motion for stay of removal. (Id.) On January 22, 2025, the mandate issued in Petitioner’s petition for review of the removal order proceedings. Mandate, Espinoza v. Garland, No. 23-2583 (9th Cir. Jan. 22, 2025), ECF No. 59.4 On February 28, 2025, the Ninth Circuit granted the motion for stay and issued a stay of Petitioner’s removal until the mandate issues in his new petition for review proceedings. Order, Espinoza v. Bondi, No. 25-341 (9th Cir. Feb. 28, 2025), ECF No. 18. Meanwhile, on September 16, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ordered that Petitioner’s federal habeas case be transferred to this Court in light of Doe v. Garland, 109 F.4th 1188, 1197 (9th Cir. 2024). (ECF No. 54.) On September 20,

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