Jonnathan Romero Marentes 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 JONNATHAN ROMERO MARENTES, 11 Petitioner, No. 1:26-cv-00247-TLN-EFB 12 v. 13 WARDEN OF THE GOLDEN STATE ORDER ANNEX DETENTION FACILITY et al., 14 Respondents. 15

16 Petitioner Jonnathan Romero Marentes (“Petitioner”), an immigration detainee who is 17 representing himself, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. 18 Based on the substance of Petitioner’s brief and the relief requested therein, the Court construes 19 Petitioner’s pleading as a motion for a temporary restraining order. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 20 97, 106 (1976) (stating that pleadings by pro se litigants must be held to less stringent standards 21 than 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 without prepayment of the filing fee in this action. See 28 4 U.S.C. § 1914. 5 In light of the complexity of the legal issues involved, the Court has determined that the 6 interests of justice require the appointment of counsel for Petitioner. See 18 U.S.C. § 7 3006A(a)(2)(B); see also Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Within seven 8 days from the date of this order, the appointing authority for the Eastern District of California 9 shall identify counsel and send counsel’s contact information to Michele Krueger, Courtroom 10 Deputy for Chief Judge Troy Nunley, via email at mkrueger@caed.uscourts.gov, who shall 11 update the docket to reflect counsel’s appointment. If counsel is not a member of the Eastern 12 District of California Criminal Justice Act (“CJA”) Panel, the Court hereby authorizes them to 13 serve as CJA counsel for petitioner for the duration of the proceedings in this Court pursuant to 14 Local Rule 180(b)(1). 15 In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 16 1. Respondents shall file a response to Petitioner’s request by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, 17 January 15, 2026; 18 2. In order to ensure this Court’s jurisdiction to resolve the pending § 2241 petition, 19 Respondent shall not transfer Petitioner to another detention center outside of this 20 judicial district, pending further order of the Court; 21 3. Petitioner is provisionally authorized to proceed in forma pauperis without 22 prepayment of the filing fee in this action, subject to Petitioner filing an application to 23 proceed in forma pauperis by February 10, 2026. The Clerk of the Court is directed to 24 serve Petitioner with an application to proceed in forma pauperis; 25 4. Within seven days from the date of this order, the appointing authority for the Eastern 26 District of California shall identify counsel and send counsel’s contact information to 27 Michele Krueger, Courtroom Deputy for Chief Judge Troy Nunley, who shall update 28 the docket to reflect counsel’s appointment; 1 5. The Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this order on the Federal Defender, 2 Attention: Habeas Appointment, along with a copy of the § 2241 petition; 3 6. The Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this order together with a copy of 4 Petitioner’s application for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on 5 the United States Attorney. 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 Date: January 13, 2026 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28