Columbus judge: Undocumented immigrant at Stewart Detention Center must get bond hearing
A federal judge in Columbus ordered Saturday that an undocumented immigrant currently detained at Stewart Detention Center must be given a bond hearing despite U.S. prosecutors wanting to deny him from having one, according to a copy of the order provided to the Ledger-Enquirer.
U.S. District Judge Clay Land sided with an undocumented immigrant who was identified in court records only as J.A.M. The person detained at Stewart had sued federal officials, arguing that despite the fact he was not legally in the U.S., he was entitled to a bond hearing where he could make an argument that he should be released from jail while he awaits the outcome of his case and possible removal from the U.S.
Land ruled that the man “is not subject to mandatory detention.”
The man filed his lawsuit via federal habeas corpus, which is a process in which a court can review the legality of someone’s incarceration, according to federal law.
The petitioner is a Mexican citizen who has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and has never legally been admitted to the U.S., according to Land’s ruling. He has requested a bond hearing “to make the case that he should be released from detention pending any removal proceedings because he is neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk,” Land wrote.
Land’s ruling says both the U.S. government and the detained man have disagreed over which provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act applied to the man’s detention, which is key to the case because the provisions clarify whether his incarceration is mandatory prior to the resolution of the case.
Lawyers for the U.S. argued that the man’s detention falls under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225(b)(2)(A), a federal law which states, “in the case of an alien who is an applicant for admission, if the examining immigration officer determines that an alien seeking admission is not clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted, the alien shall be detained.”
Land said the U.S. has contended that every undocumented immigrant not lawfully admitted falls under § 1225(b)(2)(A), a decision accepted by the Board of Immigration Appeals and being applied throughout the country by all immigration officers and immigration judges.
The man who’s detained argued instead that his detention falls under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1226 (a)(2), which says the attorney general “may release the alien” on bond or conditional parole except in certain situations, according to the document.
“Aliens who are arrested pursuant to § 1226(a) are clearly entitled to a bond hearing; detention is not mandatory except in limited circumstances not applicable here,” Land wrote in his order.
Land ruled that the terms “applicant for admission” and “alien seeking admission,” used in the provision of law that the U.S. tried to use to justify the man’s detainment, are not synonymous based on additional context in federal law 8 U.S.C. §§ 1225 (a)(1). That statute indicates this detainee is considered an “applicant for admission,” and there is no mandatory detainment for people who fall under that category.
Rather, the law narrows mandatory detainment to aliens “seeking admission,” Land wrote.
“Had Congress intended for this subsection to apply to all applicants for admission, it could have said so by simply replacing the phrase ‘an alien seeking admission’ with the term ‘an applicant for admission,’” Land wrote in his order.
The man detained was not attempting to be lawfully admitted to the U.S., disqualifying him as an “alien seeking admission,” according to Land’s decision.
Land ruled that the man is permitted to have a bond hearing, and the U.S. government must give him one, according to the document.
Whether the man will be released on bond is up to the discretion of the immigration officer and the immigration judge as they apply federal law, Land wrote.
Additional court documents in this case have not been made public.
This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 2:32 PM.