Jose Luis Murillo v. Warden, Mesa Verde ICE Detention Facility, et al.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 17, 2026·No. 1:26-cv-01691·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOSE LUIS MURILLO, Case No. 1:26-cv-01691-KES-SAB-HC

Petitioner, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION TO GRANT FIRST AMENDED PETITION FOR v. WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS AND DIRECT RESPONDENTS TO PROVIDE WARDEN, MESA VERDE ICE PETITIONER WITH BOND HEARING DETENTION FACILITY, et al., (ECF No. 18) Respondents. Petitioner is an immigration detainee proceeding with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. I. Petitioner is a citizen of Mexico who entered the United States in or around October 1985 when he was approximately six years old and has lived in the United States for approximately forty years. On January 10, 2006, Petitioner was convicted on multiple counts of second-degree robbery and attempted robbery with firearm enhancements and reckless driving. Petitioner was sentenced to imprisonment term of thirty-four years and four months, and he served approximately twenty years. Petitioner was released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) custody upon the conclusion of his sentence on November 13, 2025. (ECF No. 18 at 5–6.1) Petitioner has remained in detention. On May 22, 2026, an immigration judge (“IJ”) denied Petitioner’s applications for relief and ordered Petitioner removed to Mexico. (ECF No. 19-1.) Petitioner filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) that is still pending. See Executive Office of Immigration Review, Automated Case Information, https://acis.eoir.justice.gov/en/caseInformation (last visited Aug. 13, 2026). On March 2, 2026, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus. (ECF No. 1.) On May 1, 2026, Respondents filed a response. (ECF No. 8.) On May 15, 2026, the Court granted the Federal Defender’s amicus motion to appoint counsel. (ECF No. 10.) On June 3, 2026, Petitioner filed a first amended petition (“FAP”) challenging his immigration detention on due process grounds. (ECF No. 18.) On June 4, 2026, Respondents filed a response. (ECF No. 19.) On June 10, 2026, Petitioner filed a reply. (ECF No. 20.) II. A. Overview of Caselaw Regarding Immigration Detention Statutes An intricate statutory scheme governs the detention of noncitizens during removal proceedings and after a final removal order is issued. “Where an 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). “Four statutes grant the Government authority to detain noncitizens who have been placed in removal proceedings: 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225(b) (‘Section 1225(b)’), 1226(a) (‘Subsection A’), 1226(c) (‘Subsection C’), and 1231(a) (‘Section 1231(a)’).” Avilez v. Garland, 69 F.4th 525, 529 (9th Cir. 2023). “Subsection A is the default detention statute for noncitizens in removal proceedings and applies to noncitizens ‘[e]xcept as provided in [Subsection C].’” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a)). “[D]etention under Subsection A is discretionary” and “provides for release on bond or conditional parole.” Id. “Subsection C provides for the detention of ‘criminal aliens’ and states that ‘[t]he Attorney General shall take into custody any alien who’ is deportable or inadmissible based on a qualifying, enumerated Subsection C is mandatory,” and “[r]elease under Subsection C is limited to certain witness protection purposes.” Avilez, 69 F.4th at 530. “Section 1231(a) applies to detention after the entry of a final order of removal” and “governs detention during a ninety-day ‘removal period’ after the conclusion of removal proceedings.” Id. at 530–31. “[I]n a series of decisions since 2001, ‘the Supreme Court and [the Ninth Circuit] have grappled in piece-meal fashion with whether the various detention statutes may authorize indefinite or prolonged detention of detainees and, if so, may do so without providing a bond hearing.’” Rodriguez v. Robbins (Rodriguez II), 715 F.3d 1127, 1134 (9th Cir. 2013) (quoting Rodriguez v. Hayes (Rodriguez I), 591 F.3d 1105, 1114 (9th Cir. 2010)). In Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001), two noncitizens, who had been ordered removed but whose removal could not be effectuated due to lack of a repatriation treaty or because their designated countries refused to accept them, challenged their prolonged detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6), which governs detention beyond the ninety-day removal period. Applying the canon of constitutional avoidance because a “statute permitting indefinite detention of an alien would raise a serious constitutional problem,” the Supreme Court “read an implicit limitation into” § 1231(a)(6) and held that the statute “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 six-month period of post-removal period detention, the alien was entitled to release if he successfully demonstrated that there was ‘good reason to believe there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.’” Prieto-Romero, 534 F.3d at 1062 (quoting Zadvydas, 533 U.S. 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). Demore distinguished Zadvydas by emphasizing detention under § 1226(c) has a “definite termination point” and “in the majority of the cases it lasts for less than the 90 days we considered presumptively valid in Zadvydas.” Id. at 529 (noting that “in 85% of the cases in which aliens are detained pursuant to § 1226(c), removal proceedings are completed in an average time of 47 days and a median of 30 days” and “[i]n the Board of Immigration Appeals, appeal takes an average of four months, with a median time that is slightly shorter”).2 However, Justice Kennedy’s concurring opinion, which created the majority rejecting the facial challenge to mandatory detention under § 1226(c), specifically noted that “a lawful permanent resident alien such as respondent could be entitled to an individualized determination as to his risk of flight and dangerousness if the continued detention became unreasonable or unjustified.” Demore, 538 U.S. at 532 (Kennedy, J., concurring). In the Rodriguez class action, noncitizens “challenge[d] their prolonged detention pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225(b), 1226(a), 1226(c), and 1231(a) without individualized bond hearings and determinations to justify their continued detention.” Rodriguez v. Robbins (Rodriguez III),

Jose Luis Murillo v. Warden, Mesa Verde ICE Detention Facility, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

Jose Luis Murillo v. Warden, Mesa Verde ICE Detention Facility, et al. (Jose Luis Murillo v. Warden, Mesa Verde ICE Detention Facility, et al.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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