Oswaldo Jose Sanchez Robles, a Venezuelan national detained at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, challenged his detention after being arrested by Border Patrol in November 2025. ICE had been holding Sanchez Robles under mandatory detention provisions, arguing he was subject to detention without bond as someone who entered the U.S. without inspection and lacked proper immigration documents.
Judge Jonker rejected the government's position, finding that Section 1226(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, not the mandatory detention framework under Section 1225(b)(2), should govern Sanchez Robles' case since he 'resided in the United States and was already within the United States when apprehended.' The judge also concluded that his 'current detention under the mandatory detention framework set forth in § 1225(b)(2)(A) violates Petitioner's Fifth Amendment due process rights.'
The case followed a pattern established in several similar rulings by Judge Jonker in December 2025, including decisions in Antele Cobix v. Raycraft and Candela Bastidas v. Noem. In each case, the judge found that prolonged detention of immigrants already residing in the U.S. violated constitutional protections, despite government arguments that detainees had received proper notice and access to counsel.
The ruling adds to a growing body of district court decisions challenging ICE's mandatory detention practices, though Judge Jonker noted that recent Fifth and Eighth Circuit decisions in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi and Avila v. Bondi did not change his analysis. The government must now either provide Sanchez Robles with a bond hearing or release him immediately, and file a compliance report within six business days.