Case Name in Immigration Case - Unavailable

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
JOHN TACURI YUMBLA,
Petitioner,
– against –
RAUL MALDONADO JR., in his official
capacity as Warden, Metropolitan
Detention Center, JUDITH ALMODOVAR,
in her official capacity as Acting New York
Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, PAMELA
BONDI, in her official capacity as
Attorney General of the United States,
KRISTI NOEM, in her official capacity as
Secretary of Homeland Security, TODD
M. LYONS, in his official capacity as
Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement,
Respondents.
MEMORANDUM & ORDER
26-cv-00594 (NCM)
NATASHA C. MERLE, United States District Judge:
On December 24, 2025, Amtrak police officers arrested Petitioner John Tacuri
Yumbla at New York Penn Station and eventually transferred him to the custody of U.S.
Immigration 	and Customs 	Enforcement 	(“ICE”). 	Pet. 	for 	Writ 	of 	Habeas 	Corpus
(“Petition”) ¶ 2, ECF No. 1. Petitioner has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention
Center (“MDC”) in Brooklyn, New York since approximately December 29, 2025 and has
not been provided a bond hearing. Pet. ¶ 3. He now petitions the Court for a writ of habeas
corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Pet. ¶ 13. For the reasons discussed below, the petition is
GRANTED.
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BACKGROUND
Petitioner came to the United States to seek asylum in May 2024. Pet. ¶ 22. After
he crossed the border without inspection, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol briefly detained
him and then released him on his own recognizance. Pet. ¶ 22. Petitioner timely filed an
application for asylum and has been pursuing his claim for asylum in immigration court.
Pet. ¶ 24. Petitioner dutifully appeared for immigration hearings on December 31, 2025,
January 7, 2026, January 14, 2026, January 21, 2026, and February 4, 2026, and his next
immigration hearing is scheduled for April 1, 2026. Decl. of Keton Mei, ECF No. 8-1.
Petitioner was detained on December 24, 2025 and is currently being held by ICE
at the MDC. Pet. ¶¶ 2–3. He commenced the instant action on February 3, 2026 by filing
a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See Pet. The same day, the Court issued an order
directing respondents to show cause why the relief sought in the writ should not be
granted. Scheduling Order 2, ECF No. 5.1 The government filed a response on February 9,
2026, which discussed two prior decisions of the Court granting writs of habeas corpus
under similar factual circumstances, Y- C- v. Genalo, No. 25-cv-06558, 2025 WL 3653496
(E.D.N.Y. Dec. 17, 2025), and Crespo Tacuri v. Genalo, No. 25-cv-06896, 2026 WL 35569
(E.D.N.Y. Jan. 6, 2026). See Resp. to Order to Show Cause (“Response”) 2–3, ECF No. 8.
The response stated that while respondents “respectfully disagree with the Court’s
decisions in Crespo Tacuri and Y-C-, they acknowledge that those decisions would control
the result in this case . . . as the facts of this case are materially indistinguishable.” Resp. 3. 2
1 	Throughout this Order, page numbers for docket filings refer to the page numbers
assigned in ECF filing headers.
2 	Throughout this Order, the Court omits all internal quotation marks, footnotes, and
citations, and adopts all alterations, unless otherwise indicated.
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Although petitioner has not yet filed a reply, “[t]he Court issues the instant Order
before [p]etitioner’s deadline to file a reply in light of its obligation to ‘determine the facts,
and 	dispose’ 	of 	habeas 	petitions 	expeditiously, 	‘as 	law 	and 	justice 	require.’”
Ccorihuaman v. Genalo, No. 26-cv-00554, 2026 WL 328983, at *1 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 6, 2026)
(quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2243).
LEGAL STANDARD
Section 2241 authorizes federal district courts “to grant a writ of habeas corpus
whenever a petitioner is ‘in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of
the United States.’” Wang v. Ashcroft, 320 F.3d 130, 140 (2d Cir. 2003) (quoting 28 U.S.C.
§ 2241(c)(3)). Under Section 2241, “[f]ederal courts have jurisdiction to hear habeas
corpus claims by noncitizens challenging the constitutionality of their 	detention.”
Rodriguez-Acurio v. Almodovar, No. 25-cv-06065, 2025 WL 3314420, at *8 (E.D.N.Y.
Nov. 28, 2025) (citing Velasco Lopez v. Decker, 978 F.3d 842, 850 (2d Cir. 2020)).
DISCUSSION
Petitioner contends that he is being detained in violation of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (“INA”) and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, among other
arguments. Pet. ¶¶ 82–91. The government’s response does not meaningfully dispute these
assertions aside from stating that “to conserve judicial resources and to expedite the
Court’s consideration of this case, . . . [r]espondents hereby rely upon, and incorporate by
reference, the legal arguments presented by the [g]overnment in Crespo Tacuri and Y-C-.”
Resp. 3. Accordingly, for the reasons stated by this Court in Crespo Tacuri and Y- C-, which
the Court incorporates here by reference, the Court concludes that petitioner is being
unlawfully detained pursuant to Section 1226 and in violation of his rights to due process
under the Fifth Amendment. See Y-C-, 2025 WL 3653496, at *7; Crespo Tacuri, 2026 WL
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35569, *7; see also Ccorihuaman, 2026 WL 328983, at *2. “Habeas is at its core a remedy
for unlawful executive detention” and “[t]he typical remedy for such detention is, of course,
release.” Munaf v. Green, 553 U.S. 674, 693 (2008). The Court therefore deems petitioner
entitled to immediate release. 3
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court holds that petitioner’s detention violates the
INA and the Due Process Clause. The petition for a writ of habeas corpus is therefore
GRANTED.
Respondents are directed to release the petitioner from custody within 24 hours of
this Order and file a letter on the docket no later than 5:00 p.m. on February 11, 2026
certifying their compliance. The Court further orders that petitioner shall not be re-
detained without notice and an opportunity to be heard at a pre-deprivation bond hearing
before a neutral decisionmaker, where the government will have the burden of showing
that his detention is authorized under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a). For the avoidance of doubt, the
Court concludes that petitioner “is entitled to release from the unlawful restrictions on his
liberty—which means, in the circumstances here, restoration of . . . the status quo ante.”
Khabazha v. ICE, No. 25-cv-05279, 2025 WL 3281514, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 25, 2025)
(ordering government to release petitioner from “restrictions on his liberty imposed as a
result of his unlawful [detention] . . . including the ankle monitor and reporting
requirements”); see also Ccorihuaman, 2026 WL 328983, at *2. This Order includes “an
injunction barring deprivation of any of . . . [p]etitioner’s rights without the requisite
3 	The Court does not address petitioner’s other arguments, see Pet ¶¶ 92–110, in light
of the Court’s conclusion that his detention violates the INA and due process. See
Ccorihuaman, 2026 WL 328983, at *2 n.3.
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procedural protections.” Khabazha, 2025 WL 3281514, at *8; see also Ccorihuaman, 2026
WL 328983, at *2.
Petitioner’s February 11, 2026 deadline to file a reply and the hearing scheduled for
February 18, 2026 are hereby adjourned.
Should the petitioner seek an award of reasonable fees and costs under the Equal
Access to Justice Act, he may file a letter application on the docket within thirty days of
this Order. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to enter judgment consistent with
the Order and close the case.
SO ORDERED.
/s/ Natasha C. Merle
NATASHA C. MERLE
United States District Judge
Dated: 	February 10, 2026
Brooklyn, New York
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