J.R. M.J. v. Minga Wofford, et al.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided March 2, 2026·No. 1:25-cv-01567·Unknown

Opinion

J.R. M.J., No. 1:25-cv-01567-DC-SCR Petitioner, v. FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS MINGA WOFFORD, et al., Respondents. Petitioner is a federal immigration detainee proceeding through counsel in this habeas corpus action filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. This action was referred to the undersigned pursuant to Local Rule 302 and 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Currently pending before the Court is petitioner’s § 2241 petition, which has been fully briefed by the parties. (ECF Nos. 12-13.) I. Factual and Procedural History As described in the Court’s November 26, 2025 order: Petitioner is a citizen and national of Mexico. (Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 32.) Petitioner lived in the United States intermittently during the 1990s and 2000s. (Id.) On April 28, 2007, Petitioner applied for admission into the United States at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. (Doc. No. 8-1 at 5.) To obtain admission, Petitioner presented his Mexican passport, which contained a “counterfeit Immigration form temporary I-551 (Legal Permanent Resident) ADIT stamp.” (Id.) Due to Petitioner’s misrepresentation and lack of valid entry document, Petitioner was deemed inadmissible pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(C)(i) and (a)(7)(A)(i)(I).[] (Id.) Petitioner was served a Form I- 860 Notice and an Order of Expedited Removal. (Doc. No. 8-1 at ¶ 7.) Petitioner was then removed to Mexico on that same day. (Id.; Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 43.) On June 16, 2024, Petitioner encountered United States Border Patrol agents near San Luis, Arizona, after crossing the border from Mexico. (Doc. Nos. 1 at ¶ 43; 8-1 at 8.) Border Patrol temporarily detained Petitioner at a border holding facility in Yuma, Arizona. (Doc. Nos. 1 at ¶ 43; 8-1 at 9.) On June 17, 2024, United States Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) reinstated Petitioner’s previous 2007 removal order. (Doc. No. 8-1 at 12.) Petitioner signed the “Notice of Intent/Decision to Reinstate Prior Order,” and indicated that he did not wish to make a statement contesting the determination. (Id.) Petitioner was released from custody on June 18, 2024, subject to an Order of Supervision (“OSUP”) pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(2)(A)(3), and with placement of an ankle monitor on his foot. (Doc. Nos. 1 at ¶ 43; 8-1 at 14– 17.) Petitioner was also enrolled in the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (“ISAP”), which imposes mandatory compliance requirements. (Doc. Nos. 1 at ¶ 7; 8-1 at ¶ 10.) On August 13, 2024, Petitioner attended his appointment at the San Jose Local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) Office. (Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 44.) ICE officers removed Petitioner’s ankle monitor and directed him to the ISAP office. (Id.) Petitioner was informed of his supervision plan, which required that he install a monitoring application on his personal cell phone for weekly reporting. (Id.) Petitioner does not own a phone, but he received permission for his ISAP Officer to install the application on a relative’s cell phone instead. (Id.) Petitioner indicates that on at least three occasions, he missed a scheduled virtual check-in or submitted required documentation to his ISAP officer after the deadline. (Id. ¶¶ 46, 48.) On November 3, 2025, Petitioner reported to the ISAP office for a check-in, where he was detained. (Doc. Nos. 1 at ¶ 49; 8-1 at ¶ 11.) While detained at the ISAP office, Petitioner was served with a “Notice of Revocation of Release,” which outlined the reasons for the revocation, including that Petitioner violated the conditions of his OSUP. (Doc. No. 8-1 at 19.) Petitioner signed the Notice of Revocation of Release. (Id. at 19–20.) Petitioner alleges in his petition that “he was instructed to sign a document. Officers reportedly assured him that the document was not related to deportation, yet they still mandated his signature. He does not know what kind of document he signed.” (Doc. No. 1 at ¶ 50.) Petitioner was then transferred to the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, California, where he is currently detained. (Id. at ¶¶ 51, 54.) On November 7, 2025, ICE conducted an informal interview with Petitioner “in order to afford [him] an opportunity to respond to the reasons for revocation of his [] order of supervision,” though he did not provide any written or oral response during the interview. (Doc. No. 8-1 at 24.) ECF No. 10 at 1-3. On the same day that DHS redetained petitioner, it reinstated his 2007 order of removal. (ECF No. 12-1 at 22.) Petitioner’s signature appears on the bottom of the Notice of ///// Intent/Decision to Reinstate Prior Order of removal which is consistent with his statement in the § 2241 petition that he was instructed to sign a document while in custody. (ECF No. 12-1 at 22.) On November 25, 2025, an asylum officer determined that petitioner did not have a reasonable fear of being returned to Mexico. (ECF No. 12-2 at ¶ 7.) On appeal, an Immigration Judge (“IJ”) sustained the finding that petitioner did not have a reasonable fear of persecution if returned to Mexico. (ECF No. 12-2 at 2 ¶ 8.) On December 11, 2025, the IJ ordered that petitioner’s case be returned to DHS to effectuate removal based on the reinstated order of removal pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1208.31(g)(1). (ECF No. 12-2 at 4-5.) Petitioner filed the instant § 2241 petition on November 16, 2025 along with a motion for a temporary restraining order. (ECF Nos. 1-2.) Claims one and two are based on the procedural and substantive components of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. (ECF No. 1 at 32- 33.) In claims three and four, petitioner challenges his redetention by asserting that ICE failed to comply with its own regulations governing the revocation of an order of supervision in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act and the Accardi Doctrine.1 (Id. at 33-37.) By way of relief, petitioner requests immediate release from detention, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief preventing his redetention unless he is provided with a pre-deprivation hearing before a neutral adjudicator where the government has the burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger or a flight risk. (Id. at 36.) The District Judge denied the TRO on November 26, 2025. (ECF No. 10.) First, the District Judge rejected the government’s argument that petitioner was subject to detention pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(c) (“Removal of Aliens Arriving at Port of Entry”) because his “removal order was reinstated on June 16, 2024, more than a year ago.” (Id. at 7.) However, on the basis of the record at the TRO stage, “Petitioner has not shown that ICE failed to comply with the requirement to (1) inform Petitioner of the reasons for the revocation of his release… and (2) to afford Petitioner an informal interview and opportunity to respond to the reasons for 1 See United States ex rel. Accardi v. Shaughnessy, 15 347 U.S. 260 (stating that “[i]f petitioner can prove the allegation [that agency failed to follow its rules in a hearing] he should receive a new hearing”). revocation stated in the notification promptly after his return to custody.” (Id. at 8.) There was an insufficient factual basis to find that petitioner was likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that ICE violated its own regulations, particularly given that petitioner “does not allege in the petition that he did not understand

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J.R. M.J. v. Minga Wofford, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

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