Montano, a Mexican national who has lived in the United States since 2022, was transferred to immigration detention at the Grayson County Jail after a local arrest for failing to appear on a traffic charge. She had entered the country without inspection but had resided in Indiana with her partner and four young children, two of whom are U.S. citizens.
The government argued that Montano was subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225 based on interim DHS guidance issued in July 2025, which classified her as an applicant for admission rather than someone already admitted. Montano contended that § 1226 applied because she had been present in the country for years, making her ineligible for the mandatory detention provisions that apply to those seeking initial admission.
The court incorporated reasoning from prior decisions in the Western District of Kentucky, holding that Montano was not "seeking admission" and therefore fell under § 1226. The court rejected the government's reliance on Sixth Circuit appeals and nonbinding district court decisions, noting that the statutory framework required a different classification for her detention.
Having determined that § 1226 governed her detention, the court applied the three-part balancing test from Mathews v. Eldridge to assess whether the detention violated due process. The court found that Montano’s significant interest in liberty was weighed against the high risk of erroneous deprivation caused by her lack of an individualized merits bond hearing.
The government failed to demonstrate that Montano was a flight risk or a danger to the community, citing her lack of a criminal or civil record outside of the pending traffic matter. The court noted that the administrative burden of providing a routine bond hearing before an immigration judge was minimal and that existing statutory safeguards adequately served governmental interests.
The court concluded that the current detention was unlawful because it occurred without the procedural protections required under § 1226. The judge ordered the United States to release Montano immediately and to provide her with a bond hearing before a neutral immigration judge prior to any re-detention.
The court directed the government to certify compliance with the order by filing on the docket by April 18, 2026. The ruling aligns with similar decisions across the country addressing the legality of ICE detention practices under recent agency guidance.