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Noncitizen held in mandatory detention challenges Fifth Amendment due process rights

Jan 2025 · Laredo, TX, Ecuador

Giovanni Cuellar Roca, a noncitizen who had resided in the United States for over four years, was apprehended by ICE at his routine check-in appointment in January 2025 and held at Webb County Detention Center under mandatory detention provisions. An Immigration Judge ordered his removal to Ecuador and denied his asylum application. Cuellar Roca challenged his detention as violating Fifth Amendment due process rights. The district court granted his petition for habeas corpus, finding that noncitizens with established U.S. presence are entitled to individualized assessment of flight risk and dangerousness before detention, and ordered his immediate release with safeguards against redetention.

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