Thor B. v. Vic Regalado, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Tulsa County and Custodian of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Stacie Holloway, in her official capacity as Jail Administrator of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Robert Cerna, in his official capacity as Acting Field Office Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Dallas Field Office; David J. Venturella, in his official capacity as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Markwayne Mullin, in his official capacity as Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and Todd Blanche, in his official capacity as Acting Attorney General of the United States.

District Court, N.D. Oklahoma·Decided July 15, 2026·No. 4:26-cv-00420·Unknown

Opinion

Anited States District Court for the Morthern District of Oklahoma

Case No. 26-cv-420-JDR-SH

THOR B., Petitioner, YErSUS Vic REGALADO, tn his offictal capactty as Sheriff of Tulsa County and Custodian of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; STACIE HOLLOWAY, 7x her official capacity as Jatl Administrator of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; ROBERT CERNA, 7 his official capacity as Acting Field Office Director, U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal operations, Dallas Field Office; DAVID J. VENTURELLA, in his official capacity as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; MARKWAYNE MULLIN, his official capacity as Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and TODD BLANCHE, # his official capacity as Acting Attorney General of the United States, Respondents.

OPINION AND ORDER

Petitioner [hor B., a Ukrainian citizen, petitions for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 claiming he is unlawfully detained by federal immigration authorities. Dkt. 2. He separately moves for a temporary re- straining order, a preliminary injunction, his immediate release, and an order to show cause for his continued detention. Dkt. 3. On preliminary review of the petition and motion, and for the reasons stated in this Order, the Court summarily dismisses the Petition and denies the Motion.

No. 26-cv-420 Petitioner is a Ukrainian citizen. Dkt. 2 at 2, 4; Dkt. 3 at 2.1 Sometime before October 2024, he applied for admission to the United States and was temporarily paroled into the country, under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A), for hu- manitarian reasons.” □□□ 2 at 4, 6. Petitioner applied for re-parole in January 2026. Dkt. 2 at 4-5; Dkt. 3-2 at 2; Dkt. 3-3 at 4, 7. In May 2026, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) approved his appli- cation, permitting him to remain lawfully present in the United States until April 6, 2028. Dkt. 2 at 5; see also Dkt. 3-3 at 2. On June 30, 2026, Petitioner was detained by the United States Immi- gration and Customs Enforcement after an encounter with Oklahoma High- way Patrol. Dkt. 2 at 5; Dkt. 3-2 at 2. Since that time, he has been detained at the David L. Moss Correctional Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jd. An ICE of- ficer served Petitioner with a Notice to Appear and scheduled him for a

| The facts in this section are drawn from the Petition, Motion, and exhibits at- tached to the Motion and are accepted as true for purposes of this Order. The Court’s cita- tions refer to the CM/ECF header pagination. Unless quoting language from a statute, reg- ulation, or court decision, the Court uses the term “noncitizen” as equivalent to the term “alien.” See Nasrallah v. Barr, 590 U.S. 573, 578 n.2 (2020); 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(3) (“The term ‘alien’ means any person not a citizen or national of the United States.”). Lastly, throughout the Petition and Motion, Petitioner refers to the collective actions of ““Respond- ents” that resulted in his allegedly unlawful immigration detention. But two local officials are named as respondents only because they are responsible for housing immigration de- tainees in the county jail. For clarity, the Court thus refers to the named respondents who are federal officers or officials, collectively, as “Federal Respondents” and, if discernible from Petitioner’s allegations, refers to the actions of specific federal officers or officials where appropriate. ? Petitioner does not identify when or where he applied for admission to the United States, but he submitted a copy of an Illinois driver’s license issued to him in October 2024 that reflects an Illinois address. Dkt. 3-3 at 8. The Court thus finds it reasonable to infer that he applied for admission and to the United States and was initially granted temporary parole sometime before October 2024.

No. 26-cv-420

hearing before an immigration judge on July 13, 2026.° Jd. Petitioner’s “TcJounsel has not been provided with any written [Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”)] custody determination explaining why Petitioner’s con- tinued detention is required, any individualized flight-risk or danger determi- nation, or any written parole-termination decision other than the reported NTA.” Dkt. 2 at 5; see also Dkt. 3-2 at 3. Petitioner is not subject to a final order of removal. Dkt. 2 at 5. He has a stable address in Chicago, Illinois, prior employment history in the United States, and ongoing humanitarian considerations arising from the war in Ukraine. Jd. Petitioner’s counsel is not aware of any criminal conviction or criminal court order that would require Petitioner’s detention. Dkt. 3-2 at 3. II Section 2241 authorizes a federal district court to grant a writ of habeas corpus to a person “in custody under or by color of the United States,” or “in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(1), (c)(3); see also 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a) (empow- ering federal district courts to grant habeas relief “within their respective ju- risdictions”). This authority extends to habeas petitions filed by noncitizens to challenge the lawfulness of their detention by federal immigration author- ities. See Munaf v. Green, 553 U.S. 674, 693 (2008) (“‘Habeas is at its core a remedy for unlawful executive detention.”); Soberanes v. Comfort, 388 F.3d 1305, 1310 (10th Cir. 2004) (“Challenges to immigration detention are properly brought directly through habeas.”’).

* A notice to appear is a charging document that commences an immigration re- moval proceeding. Miguel-Pena v. Garland, 94 F.4th 1145, 1150 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 145 S. Ct. 545 (2024); see also 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1) (discussing service and contents of notice to appear); Niz-Chavez v. Garland, 593 U.S. 155, 163-64 (2021) (stating that “[a] notice to appear serves as the basis for commencing a grave legal proceeding” and likening it to “an indictment in a criminal case [or] a complaint in a civil case”).

Petitioner identifies four claims, asserting his detention: (1) violates 28 USS.C. § 2241; (2) violates his Fifth Amendment right to procedural due pro- cess;* (3) is based on “agency action contrary to law and arbitrary and capri- cious”; and (4) entitles him to declaratory and injunctive relief. Dkt. 2 at 7-9. Petitioner premises each claim on his contention that he is not lawfully de- tained because (1) USCIS recently approved his re-parole, permitting his law- ful presence in the United States through April 6, 2028, and (2) no DHS of- ficial complied with applicable statutory and regulatory procedures to termi- nate his parole before detaining him. Jd.; see also Dkt. 3.

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Thor B. v. Vic Regalado, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Tulsa County and Custodian of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Stacie Holloway, in her official capacity as Jail Administrator of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Robert Cerna, in his official capacity as Acting Field Office Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Dallas Field Office; David J. Venturella, in his official capacity as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Markwayne Mullin, in his official capacity as Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and Todd Blanche, in his official capacity as Acting Attorney General of the United States., (N.D. Okla. 2026).

Thor B. v. Vic Regalado, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Tulsa County and Custodian of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Stacie Holloway, in her official capacity as Jail Administrator of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Robert Cerna, in his official capacity as Acting Field Office Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Dallas Field Office; David J. Venturella, in his official capacity as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Markwayne Mullin, in his official capacity as Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and Todd Blanche, in his official capacity as Acting Attorney General of the United States. (Thor B. v. Vic Regalado, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Tulsa County and Custodian of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Stacie Holloway, in her official capacity as Jail Administrator of David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center; Robert Cerna, in his official capacity as Acting Field Office Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Dallas Field Office; David J. Venturella, in his official capacity as Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Markwayne Mullin, in his official capacity as Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and Todd Blanche, in his official capacity as Acting Attorney General of the United States.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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