Vargas Gutierrez v. Unknown Party et al

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
______
VICTOR MANUEL VARGAS
GUTIERREZ,
Petitioner,
v.
UNKNOWN PARTY et al.,
Respondents.
____________________________/
Case No. 1:26-cv-01529
Honorable Robert J. Jonker
OPINION
Petitioner, a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee, initiated
this action by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241. (Pet., ECF
No. 1.) The habeas petition challenges the lawfulness of Petitioner’s current detention and asks the
Court to, inter alia, issue a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 either ordering
Respondents to release Petitioner or ordering Respondents to conduct a bond hearing to satisfy the
requirements of due process. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.3.)
In an order entered on May 13, 2026, the Court directed Respondents to show cause, within
three business days, why the writ of habeas corpus and other relief requested by Petitioner should
not be granted. (Order, ECF No. 8.) Respondents filed their response on May 13, 2026, (ECF No.
9.) After reviewing the parties’ submissions, the Court concludes that the petition is properly
dismissed without prejudice for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
Discussion
Petitioner is a native and citizen of Mexico. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.1.) On January 6,
2026, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents encountered and arrested Petitioner. (Id.)
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Respondents have not provided Petitioner an individualized bond hearing before an immigration
judge as contemplated by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).1
Since September of 2025, this Court has considered hundreds of petitions similar to the
present petition. In resolving those petitions, until recently, the Court has declined to require that
immigration detainees exhaust their administrative remedies before seeking habeas relief or, in the
alternative, the Court has waived the exhaustion requirement. Then, turning to the merits, the Court
has determined that immigration detainees in Petitioner’s circumstance are properly detained, if at
all, under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) and, accordingly, entitled to a custody redetermination hearing if the
government intends to continue the detention.
On May 11, 2026, in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, Nos. 25-1965, 1969, 1978, 1982, 2026
WL 1283891 (6th Cir. May 11, 2026), the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
also concluded that § 1226(a), not § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs the detention of persons in Petitioner’s
position. Moreover, the Sixth Circuit explained:
Noncitizens who have “passed through our gates, even illegally, may be expelled
only after proceedings conforming to traditional standards of fairness encompassed
in due process of law.” Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei, 345 U.S. 206,
212 (1953); see also Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86, 100–01 (1903). Thus,
noncitizens within the interior of the United States are entitled to the protections of
the Due Process Clause, “whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful,
temporary, or permanent.” Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 693 (2001). “It is well
established that the Fifth Amendment entitles aliens to due process of law in
[removal] proceedings.” Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292, 306 (1993); see also Demore
v. Kim, 538 U.S. 510, 523 (2003). Consequently, the government may not deny
“notice” or “an opportunity to be heard” to a noncitizen “who has entered the
country, and has become subject in all respects to its jurisdiction, and a part of its
population, although alleged to be illegally here.” Yamataya, 189 U.S. at 100–01.
1 The materials submitted by the parties do not suggest that Petitioner is subject to a final order of
removal or that Petitioner is subject to detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c).
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Lopez-Campos, 2026 WL 1283891, at *11. The Sixth Circuit therefore upheld the lower courts’
determinations that the government’s detention of the Lopez-Campos petitioners “without bond
under § 1226(a) was a deprivation of liberty that violated [their] due process rights.” Id. at *13.
In Respondents’ submissions to this Court, they indicate their intention to comply with the
binding holdings of Lopez-Campos and afford Petitioner a custody redetermination hearing.
(Resp., ECF No. 9, PageID.35.) This changes the Court’s exhaustion analysis. 	At present the
Court concludes that exhaustion would not be futile, and that the balance of prudential exhaustion
factors weighs in favor of requiring exhaustion.
There are no applicable statutes or rules that mandate administrative exhaustion by
Petitioner. Thus, whether to require exhaustion is within this Court’s “sound judicial discretion.”
See Shearson v. Holder, 725 F.3d 588, 593–94 (6th Cir. 2013) (quoting McCarthy v. Madigan,
503 U.S. 140, 144 (1992)). “Courts have described an implied requirement to raise issues with an
agency as a ‘judge-made,’ ‘prudential,’ or ‘common law’ duty to exhaust,” Island Creek Coal Co.
v. Bryan, 937 F.3d 738, 746 (6th Cir. 2019) (citations omitted), and such a court-made exhaustion
rule must comply with statutory schemes and Congressional intent, Shearson, 725 F.3d at 593–94.
Notably, the Sixth Circuit has not yet decided “whether courts should impose administrative
exhaustion in the context of a noncitizen’s habeas petition for unlawful mandatory detention,”
Pizarro Reyes v. Raycraft, No. 25-cv-12546, 2025 WL 2609425, at *3 (E.D. Mich. Sep. 9, 2025)
(citing Hernandez Torrealba v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., No. 1:25-cv-1621, 2025 WL
2444114, at *8 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 25, 2025)), and “[t]he Sixth Circuit has not formally adopted a
standard for determining when prudential exhaustion applies.” Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft,
No. 2:25-cv-12486, 2025 WL 2496379, at *4 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 29, 2025). However, courts within
the Sixth Circuit “have applied the three-factor test, set forth in United States v. California Care
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Corp., 709 F.2d 1241, 1248 (9th Cir. 1983) (derived from McGee v. United States, 402 U.S. 479,
484[ (1971)]; McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185, 193–95[ (1969)),]” to determine whether
prudential exhaustion should be required. Id. Under this three-factor test,
Courts may require prudential exhaustion when:
(1) agency expertise makes agency consideration necessary to generate a proper
record and reach a proper decision;
(2) relaxation of the requirement would encourage the deliberate bypass of the
administrative scheme; and
(3) administrative review is likely to allow the agency to correct its own mistakes
and to preclude the need for judicial review.
Id. (citing Shweika v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., No. 1:06-cv-11781, 2015 WL 6541689, at *12
(E.D. Mich. Oct. 29, 2015)).
Alternatively, even in situations where a court may ordinarily apply prudential exhaustion,
the court may still choose to waive exhaustion. See Lopez-Campos, 2025 WL 2496379, at *4
(citations omitted). A court may choose to rule upon the merits of the issues presented when the
“legal question is ‘fit’ for resolution and delay means hardship.” Shalala v. Ill. Council on Long
Term Care, Inc., 529 U.S. 1, 13 (2000) (citation omitted). A court may also waive exhaustion if
the “pursuit of administrative remedies would be a futile gesture.” Shearson, 725 F.3d at 594
(citation omitted).
In resolving hundreds of prior petitions like Petitioner’s, this Court concluded that
prudential exhaustion should not be required after balancing the prudential considerations and the
likely futility of starting with an agency decision. But after Lopez-Campos and the government’s
unequivocal commitment to apply its holding in this case, administrative review of the controlling
legal question is likely to result in an agency decision that honors the law. This, in turn, means
that exhaustion is no longer futile. 	Therefore, the Court will require Petitioner to exhaust his
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administrative 	remedies. 	The 	Court 	will 	dismiss 	the 	petition 	without 	prejudice. 	Should
administrative exhaustion again prove to be an unavailable path to allow the agency to correct its
own mistakes, Petitioner may file a new petition.
Conclusion
For the reasons discussed above, the Court will enter a judgment dismissing the petition
for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 without prejudice.
Dated: 	May 22, 2026 	/s/
Robert J. Jonker
United States District Judge
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