Trejo Blanco, a citizen of El Salvador, entered the United States without inspection in November 2013. In October 2025, the Department of Homeland Security detained him and initiated removal proceedings under 8 U.S.C. § 1229a.
When Trejo Blanco requested a bond hearing, the immigration judge denied the motion. The judge concluded that the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the bond request, relying on a Board of Immigration Appeals case titled Yajure-Hurtado.
Trejo Blanco filed a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, arguing that the denial of the bond hearing violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Due Process Clause.
Judge Schopler determined that the petition has sufficient potential merit to warrant a response, noting that functionally identical cases across the country have succeeded. The order cites a class action final judgment in Maldonado Bautista v. Noem and numerous other opinions where petitioners prevailed on similar grounds.
The court highlighted that in Barco Mercado v. Francis, one judge noted that petitioners prevailed in 350 of 362 opinions addressing the issue, decided by over 160 different judges in about fifty different courts. Other courts have held that section 1226(a), rather than section 1225(b)(2), likely governs such detentions.
The order directs the respondents to file a brief by Monday, February 2, 2026. The government must state whether it agrees Trejo Blanco is part of the Maldonado Bautista class and whether it intends to concede his right to a bond hearing under that authority.
If the respondents do not concede, they are ordered to answer the petition by the same deadline. The disposition of the underlying habeas petition remains unknown as of the January 28, 2026, order.