Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Vicente Rodriguez Machado, proceeding without counsel, filed a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 in the Northern District of Texas’s Dallas Division. He paid the filing fee, and Senior U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey referred the case to U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Horan for pretrial management.
When Machado filed the petition, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was detaining him at the CoreCivic Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Oklahoma. The facility is in Payne County, within the Western District of Oklahoma.
The Court’s Holding
The court held that venue was improper in the Dallas Division. Under the immediate-custodian rule governing challenges to present physical confinement, a § 2241 petition generally must be brought in the federal district where the petitioner is confined, with the petitioner’s immediate custodian named as the proper respondent.
Because Machado was confined in the Western District of Oklahoma when he filed his petition, the court ordered the case transferred there under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1406(a) and 1631. The transfer was set to occur 21 days after entry of the order unless all affected parties consented to an earlier transfer. A party could object to Judge Godbey within 14 days after service, and any objection would stay the transfer pending further court order.
Key Takeaways
- A § 2241 challenge to current physical custody generally belongs in the district where the petitioner is confined.
- The proper respondent in such a case is ordinarily the petitioner’s immediate custodian, not a supervisory official exercising legal control.
- A magistrate judge may order an interdistrict transfer as a nondispositive pretrial matter, subject to timely objections.
Why It Matters
The order reinforces that immigration detainees challenging their present confinement under § 2241 must ordinarily file where they are physically detained. Filing elsewhere may lead to transfer before the court reaches the petition’s merits.
It also illustrates the procedural safeguards accompanying a magistrate judge’s transfer order in the Northern District of Texas: a delayed effective date, an opportunity to object, and an automatic stay if an objection is filed.