K.E.O. v. Woosley

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedSeptember 4, 2025
Docket4:25-cv-00074
StatusUnknown

This text of K.E.O. v. Woosley (K.E.O. v. Woosley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
K.E.O. v. Woosley, (W.D. Ky. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY OWENSBORO DIVISION

K.E.O., Petitioner,

v. Civil Action No. 4:25-cv-74-RGJ

JASON WOOSLEY, Grayson County Jailer; SAMUEL OLSON, Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; KRISTI NOEM, in her official capacity as Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Respondents.

* * * * *

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on Petitioner K.E.O.’s Writ of Habeas Corpus. [DE 1]. Respondents responded on August 1, 2025. [DE 8]. Petitioner replied on August 5, 2025. [DE 10]. The Court then held a Show Cause Hearing on August 7, 2025. Petitioner was granted use of a pseudonym to protect against potential retaliation. [DE 13]. After the hearing, the Court ordered further briefing. [DE 13]. Both parties obliged. [DE 17, DE 18]. Most recently, Petitioner has submitted two Notices of Supplemental Authority. [DE 20, DE 21]. This matter is ripe for adjudication. For the reasons below, the Court will GRANT K.E.O.’s Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. I. Background Petitioner K.E.O. was born in 1992, in Mexico, and brought to the United States when she was approximately 5 years old. [DE 1 at 5]. K.E.O. was allegedly trafficked into the United States for forced labor and used as an informal contract interpreter. [DE 1 at 5]. In 2008, due to the alleged pressure from her traffickers, K.E.O. served as a getaway driver for several robberies, in the hopes this new income would satisfy her traffickers. [DE 1 at 6]. Within two years of these robberies, K.E.O. was arrested and ultimately convicted. [DE 1 at 6]. K.E.O. received a sentence of 24 years Mexico in 2021. [DE 1 at 6,7]. K.E.O. returned to the United States without admission a few months later and reconnected with her partner. [DE 1 at 7]. Two years later, DHS officers arrested K.E.O. [DE 1 at 7]. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detained K.E.O. and charged her with illegal re-entry. [DE 1 at 7]. K.E.O. was pregnant when detained, and while still in custody, K.E.O. gave birth to her daughter. [DE 1 at 7]. After K.E.O. pled guilty, District Judge Damon R. Leichty imposed a sentence of time served, and allowed K.E.O. to remain free, subject to further immigration proceedings. [DE 1 at 7]. In part, Judge Leichty relied on ICE Directive 11032.4: Identification and Monitoring of

Pregnant, Postpartum, or Nursing Individuals. [DE 1 at 8]. ICE had come to a similar conclusion, on March 20, 2024, and independently determined that K.E.O. may remain within the United States and placed K.E.O. on an Order of Supervision (“OSUP”) with GPS monitoring. [DE 1 at 8]. The next month, K.E.O. met with the National Immigrant Justice Center to discuss her childhood trauma. [DE 1-9]. Shortly thereafter, K.E.O. filed a T Visa application, which is for victims of human trafficking with the United States Citizenship and Immigrant Services (“USCIS”). [DE at 9]. If approved, K.E.O. would no longer be removable for at least four years. [DE 1 at 2]. On April 15, 2025, ICE contacted K.E.O. to alert to her that ICE was planning to remove her GPS monitor. [DE 1 at 9]. On April 24, 2025, K.E.O. reported to the ICE office in Indianapolis

and had her GPS monitor removed. [DE 1 at 9]. There, K.E.O. was informed that she would not be deported until she was no longer nursing her infant daughter, which she was still doing on the medical advice of her daughter’s pediatrician. [DE 1 at 9, 10]. The next day, ICE called K.E.O. to let her know that the removal of the GPS monitor was a mistake and ordered her to return to the ICE office to have the GPS reinstated on April 28, 2025. [DE 1 at 10]. Upon arrival, ICE officers arrested K.E.O. and transported her to an ICE facility. K.E.O. was not provided with any notice or documents justifying her detention or the termination of OSUP. [DE 1 at 10]. In June 2025, while in ICE Custody, an immigration judge determined that K.E.O. has a reasonable fear of return to Mexico and ordered full proceedings on this claim.1 [DE 1 at 11]. The immigration judge ordered that K.E.O. be placed in “withholding-only” proceedings2 during this time. [DE 1 at 11]. K.E.O. now seeks a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus against Jason Woosley, the Grayson County Jailer; Samuel Olson, the Field Officer Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Kristi Noem, in her official capacity as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Prior to moving to the merits of K.E.O.’s petition, Respondents assert that this Court does not have jurisdiction. II. Jurisdiction A. Standard District courts have jurisdiction only where Congress has provided. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994). Additionally, district courts within the Sixth Circuit do not have jurisdiction to decide claims that arise from an Executive Branch decision to “execute a removal order.” Rranxburgaj v. Wolf, 825 F. App’x 278, 282-83 (6th Cir. 2020) (emphasis added). “A district court may grant a writ of habeas corpus to any person who demonstrates he is

in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States.” Maldonado v. Olson, 2025 WL 2374411, at *4 (D. Minn. Aug. 15, 2025)(citing 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3)). Although the Court “may not review discretionary decisions made by immigration authorities, it may review

1 Decisions of immigration judges are not reported in any specific reporter, as they are located under the Attorney General within the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Reviews on appeal are handled by the Board of Immigration Appeals. 2 “Withholding-only” proceedings are a limited proceeding involving noncitizens subject to either expedited removal and noncitizens subject to reinstatement of prior orders of removal, who have a reasonable fear of immigration-related detentions to determine if they comport with the demands of the Constitution.” Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 688 (2001). B. Discussion Respondents contend that this Court lacks jurisdiction to review K.E.O.’s claims. [DE 8 at 185-86]. Specifically, Respondents contend that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(g) “‘strips district courts of jurisdiction over any cause or claim by or on behalf of any alien3 arising from the decision or action by the Attorney General to commence proceedings, adjudicate cases, or execute removal orders against any alien under this chapter’” and because this case “arises out of the arrest of Petitioner

for the execution of a removal order against her” this Court lacks jurisdiction to hear this case. [DE 8 at 186]. In the alternative, Respondents contend that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(9) strips this Court of jurisdiction because K.E.O.’s arrest is an “‘action taken . . . to remove an alien from the United States.’” [DE 8 at 186]. Both arguments are misstatements of the law and review requested by Petitioner. In DHS v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 591 U.S. 1, 19 (2020), the Supreme Court held that § 1252(b)(9) “‘does not present a jurisdictional bar’ where those bringing suit ‘are not asking for review of an order of removal,’ ‘the decision ... to seek removal,’ or ‘the process by which ... removability will be determined.’” (quoting Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281, 294-95 (2018)). And the Supreme Court has also rejected that Section 1252(g) is similarly narrow. That provision

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K.E.O. v. Woosley, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keo-v-woosley-kywd-2025.