Jean Carlos Contreras Pernia, a Venezuelan citizen detained at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, challenged his continued detention after an immigration judge denied him bond in February. Pernia entered the U.S. without inspection near El Paso, Texas, in May 2023 and was initially released on his own recognizance. ICE arrested him during a check-in appointment in October 2025, leading to his current detention.
Judge Beckering found that the immigration court applied an improper burden of proof at Pernia's February bond hearing, where the judge denied bond because Pernia 'did not establish he is not a danger or a flight risk.' The immigration judge cited Pernia's service in the Venezuelan military during a period of alleged human rights abuses, noting he 'did not present evidence to show he has not engaged in such abuses.' Beckering relied on her reasoning in a recent decision, Soto-Medina v. Lynch, to grant the habeas petition.
This marks the second time Beckering has intervened in Pernia's detention. In February, she conditionally granted his first habeas petition challenging his initial detention without any bond hearing, ordering ICE to provide the hearing that ultimately resulted in the bond denial now under challenge.
ICE must provide Pernia with a new individualized bond hearing within five business days where the government bears the burden to demonstrate dangerousness or flight risk by clear and convincing evidence, or release him immediately. The court also ordered ICE to file a status report within six business days certifying compliance and detailing the hearing's outcome.