Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3

4 JUAN OSCAR CRUZ-COLMENARES, Case No.: 3:26-cv-02635-LEK-JLB 5 Petitioner, 6 ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND v. DENYING IN PART PETITION 7 FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS 8 PATRICK DIVVER, FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR OF ENFORCEMENT AND 9 REMOVAL OPERATIONS, SAN 10 DIEGO FIELD OFFICE, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS 11 ENFORCEMENT; CHRISTOPHER J. 12 LAROSE, WARDEN OF OMDC, Respondents. 13 15 Before this Court is Petitioner Juan Oscar Cruz-Colmenares’s (“Petitioner”) 16 petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (“Petition”), filed on 17 April 24, 2026. [Dkt. no. 1.] Patrick Divver, Field Office Director of Enforcement and 18 Removal Operations, San Diego Field Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement 19 and Christopher J. LaRose, Warden of Otay Mesa Detention Center (“OMDC”) 20 (collectively, “Respondents”), filed a Response to Petition (“Response”) on May 5, 2026. 21 [Dkt. no. 5.] 22 Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, entered the United States without 23 inspection in 1988. [Petition at ¶¶ 14-15.] Petitioner alleges that he is currently detained 24 by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Immigration and 25 Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) division, at the OMDC in San Diego, California. [Id. at 26 27 1 ¶ 10.] Petitioner was detained on April 22, 2026. See id. at ¶ 18. Petitioner alleges he is 2 entitled to, inter alia, release and a bond hearing. See id. at pg. 9. 3 Respondents concede that “Petitioner appears to be a member of the Bond 4 Eligible Class certified in Maldonado Bautista v. Santacruz.” Response at 1; see also 5 Maldonado Bautista v. Santacruz, 813 F. Supp. 3d 1084, 1124 (C.D. Cal. 2025).1 6 Respondents also acknowledges that, while Maldonado Bautista is stayed, “prior orders 7 from this District direct[] bond hearings pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) in similar cases.” 8 [Response at 2 (citation omitted).] “Respondents therefore do not oppose an order from 9 this Court directing a bond hearing be held pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a).” [Id.] 10 Therefore, this Court grants Petitioner’s request for a bond hearing. 11 Petitioner has also requested that this Court award him attorney’s fees and 12 costs. See Petition at pg. 9. This Court will consider an application requesting reasonable 13 attorney’s fees and costs that is filed within thirty days of the entry of judgment. This 14 Court, therefore, denies Petitioner’s request for attorney’s fees and costs without 15 prejudice. 16 CONCLUSION 17 For the foregoing reasons, the petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Pursuant 18 to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, filed April 24, 2026, is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN 19 PART. The Petition is GRANTED insofar as DHS is ORDERED to provide Petitioner 20 with an individualized bond hearing under Title 8 United States Code Section 1226(a) 21 within fourteen days of the filing of this Order. DHS SHALL NOT deny Petitioner’s 22 bond on the basis that Title 8 United States Code Section 1225(b)(2) requires mandatory 23 24 25 1 This Court notes that on March 6, 2026, the Ninth Circuit has administratively stayed the Maldonado Bautista decision “insofar as the district court’s judgment extends 26 beyond the Central District of California.” Maldonado Bautista et al. v. U.S. Dep’t of 27 Homeland Security et al., No. 26-1044, Order, filed 3/6/26 (dkt. no. 5), at 1. Therefore, this Court resolves the instant Petition without reliance on Maldonado Bautista. 28 1 || detention. The Petition is DENIED as to Petitioner’s request for immediate release from 2 || custody, and the Petition is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE as to Petitioner’s request 3 || for attorney’s fees and costs. 4 The parties are DIRECTED to file a joint status report informing this Court 5 || of the outcome of the bond hearing by June 4, 2026. 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 DATED AT HONOLULU, HAWAII, May 13, 2026. sR, ? oy) /s/ Leslie E. Kobayashi 10 Leslie E. Kobayashi 11 Senior U.S. District Judge ree a 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28