Juan Bacilio Gaspar v. Warden of the Golden State Annex ICE Detention Facility, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMay 11, 2026
Docket1:25-cv-02026
StatusUnknown

This text of Juan Bacilio Gaspar v. Warden of the Golden State Annex ICE Detention Facility, et al. (Juan Bacilio Gaspar v. Warden of the Golden State Annex ICE Detention Facility, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Juan Bacilio Gaspar v. Warden of the Golden State Annex ICE Detention Facility, et al., (E.D. Cal. 2026).

Opinion

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9

10 JUAN BACILIO GASPAR, Case No. 1:25-cv-02026-JLT-SAB-HC

11 Petitioner, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION TO GRANT PETITION FOR WRIT OF 12 v. HABEAS CORPUS AND DIRECT RESPONDENTS TO PROVIDE 13 WARDEN OF THE GOLDEN STATE PETITIONER WITH BOND HEARING ANNEX ICE DETENTION FACILITY, et al., 14 Respondents. 15 16 Petitioner is an immigration detainee proceeding pro se with a petition for writ of habeas 17 corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. 18 I. 19 BACKGROUND 20 Petitioner is a citizen of Guatemala whose status was adjusted to lawful permanent 21 resident on April 21, 2009. (ECF No. 13-2 at 2.1) On September 10, 2019, Petitioner was 22 convicted of kidnapping, with an enhancement for use of a deadly or dangerous weapon 23 pursuant, and of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse or roommate. Petitioner was sentenced to 24 an imprisonment term of seven years. (Id. at 5.) On September 24, 2025, Enforcement and 25 Removal Operations (“ERO”) took Petitioner into custody. (Id. at 24.) A notice to appear was 26 filed that charged Petitioner within being removable under section 237(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the 27 Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). (Id. at 25.) 1 On December 29, 2025, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging 2 his prolonged immigration detention without a bond hearing before a neutral decisionmaker. 3 (ECF No. 1.) On February 27, 2026, Respondents filed an answer. (ECF No. 13.) On March 27, 4 2026, Petitioner filed a traverse. (ECF No. 15.) On April 17, 2026, Petitioner’s motion for 5 temporary restraining order was denied. (ECF No. 17.) 6 II. 7 DISCUSSION 8 A. Overview of Caselaw Regarding Immigration Detention Statutes 9 An intricate statutory scheme governs the detention of noncitizens during removal 10 proceedings and after a final removal order is issued. “Where an alien falls within this statutory 11 scheme can affect whether his detention is mandatory or discretionary, as well as the kind of 12 review process available to him if he wishes to contest the necessity of his detention.” Prieto- 13 Romero v. Clark, 534 F.3d 1053, 1057 (9th Cir. 2008). 14 “Four statutes grant the Government authority to detain noncitizens who have been 15 placed in removal proceedings: 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225(b) (‘Section 1225(b)’), 1226(a) (‘Subsection 16 A’), 1226(c) (‘Subsection C’), and 1231(a) (‘Section 1231(a)’).” Avilez v. Garland, 69 F.4th 17 525, 529 (9th Cir. 2023). “Subsection A is the default detention statute for noncitizens in 18 removal proceedings and applies to noncitizens ‘[e]xcept as provided in [Subsection C].’” 19 Avilez, 69 F.4th at 529 (alteration in original) (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a)). “[D]etention under 20 Subsection A is discretionary” and “provides for release on bond or conditional parole.” Id. 21 “Subsection C provides for the detention of ‘criminal aliens’ and states that ‘[t]he Attorney 22 General shall take into custody any alien who’ is deportable or inadmissible based on a 23 qualifying, enumerated offense.” Id. at 530 (alteration in original) (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c)). 24 “[D]etention under Subsection C is mandatory,” and “[r]elease under Subsection C is limited to 25 certain witness protection purposes.” Id. “Section 1231(a) applies to detention after the entry of a 26 final order of removal” and “governs detention during a ninety-day ‘removal period’ after the 27 conclusion of removal proceedings.” Id. at 530–31. 1 “[I]n a series of decisions since 2001, ‘the Supreme Court and [the Ninth Circuit] have 2 grappled in piece-meal fashion with whether the various detention statutes may authorize 3 indefinite or prolonged detention of detainees and, if so, may do so without providing a bond 4 hearing.’” Rodriguez v. Robbins (Rodriguez II), 715 F.3d 1127, 1134 (9th Cir. 2013) (quoting 5 Rodriguez v. Hayes (Rodriguez I), 591 F.3d 1105, 1114 (9th Cir. 2010)). In Zadvydas v. Davis, 6 533 U.S. 678 (2001), two noncitizens, who had been ordered removed but whose removal could 7 not be effectuated due to lack of a repatriation treaty or because their designated countries 8 refused to accept them, challenged their prolonged detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6), which 9 governs detention beyond the ninety-day removal period. Applying the canon of constitutional 10 avoidance because a “statute permitting indefinite detention of an alien would raise a serious 11 constitutional problem,” the Supreme Court “read an implicit limitation into” § 1231(a)(6) and 12 held that the statute “limits an alien’s post-removal-period detention to a period reasonably 13 necessary to bring about that alien’s removal from the United States.” Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 14 689. Thus, “after a presumptively reasonable six-month period of post-removal period detention, 15 the alien was entitled to release if he successfully demonstrated that there was ‘good reason to 16 believe there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.’” 17 Prieto-Romero, 534 F.3d at 1062 (quoting Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 701). 18 In Demore v. Kim, 538 U.S. 510 (2003), the Supreme Court rejected a facial challenge to 19 mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c). Demore distinguished Zadvydas by emphasizing 20 detention under § 1226(c) has a “definite termination point” and “in the majority of the cases it 21 lasts for less than the 90 days we considered presumptively valid in Zadvydas.” Id. at 529 (noting 22 that “in 85% of the cases in which aliens are detained pursuant to § 1226(c), removal 23 proceedings are completed in an average time of 47 days and a median of 30 days” and “[i]n the 24 remaining 15% of cases, in which the alien appeals the decision of the Immigration Judge to the 25 Board of Immigration Appeals, appeal takes an average of four months, with a median time that 26 is slightly shorter”).2 However, Justice Kennedy’s concurring opinion, which created the 27 2 “Thirteen years after the decision in Demore, the government admitted that the figures it provided to the Court, and which the Court relied on, contained ‘several significant errors.’” Rodriguez v. Nielsen, No. 18-cv-04187-TSH, 1 majority rejecting the facial challenge to mandatory detention under § 1226(c), specifically noted 2 that “a lawful permanent resident alien such as respondent could be entitled to an individualized 3 determination as to his risk of flight and dangerousness if the continued detention became 4 unreasonable or unjustified.” Demore, 538 U.S. at 532 (Kennedy, J., concurring). 5 In the Rodriguez class action, noncitizens “challenge[d] their prolonged detention 6 pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225(b), 1226(a), 1226(c)

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