Rodriguez Vazquez: Interior Noncitizens Were Detained Under Section 1226(a), Not Mandatory Section 1225(b)

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In Rodriguez Vazquez v. Bostock, the Ninth Circuit addressed the government’s 2025 policy treating unadmitted noncitizens arrested in the interior as subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. section 1225(b)(2)(A). The court held that section 1226(a), which permits bond, governed the petitioners’ detention.

The policy changed a longstanding detention practice

Before the 2025 guidance, the government generally treated unadmitted people already present in the interior as detained under section 1226(a), while section 1225(b) applied to applicants encountered in the admission process at the border.

The new interpretation triggered widespread habeas litigation by people denied access to bond hearings.

The court read the provisions in context

Although section 1225(a)(1) deems certain persons applicants for admission, the panel read the detention provisions, history, and structure together. It rejected the view that the deeming language automatically placed all such interior arrests under mandatory section 1225(b)(2)(A).

The court concluded that section 1226(a) supplied the arrest-and-detention authority during removal proceedings for the petitioners before it.

Section 1226(a) permits individualized custody review

Unlike the mandatory detention theory advanced by the government, section 1226(a) permits release on bond or conditional parole under the statutory and regulatory process.

The ruling concerned the source of detention authority. It did not order release for every petitioner or predetermine danger, flight risk, or the outcome of an individual bond hearing.

The decision addressed a developing circuit conflict

The panel identified disagreement among federal courts over the 2025 interpretation. That conflict makes current appellate status and any later Supreme Court action important.

A habeas record should identify entry and admission history, arrest location, charging documents, custody authority, bond requests, and the procedural posture of removal proceedings.