Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz

About the case

Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz is nationally important because it adds a First Circuit classwide ruling to the fast-moving split over DHS's 2025 policy of treating long-time interior arrestees as mandatory-detention applicants for admission. The court affirmed relief for Guerrero Orellana and the certified Massachusetts class, holding that section 1226(a) governs detention and release eligibility because class members are not currently seeking admission for purposes of section 1225(b)(2)(A). On September 15, 2026, the district court stayed the due-process counts and dismissed the separate APA claim seeking vacatur of Matter of Yajure Hurtado, without disturbing the existing statutory judgment. Its September 22 order requires at least 72 hours’ notice before transferring a class member who has requested a bond hearing outside the First Circuit, and replaces the class notice. The government moved on October 20 to reconsider the transfer-notice requirement; that motion is a request, not an order changing it.

Relief

The petitioner and class sought release or bond hearings rather than detention without bond under section 1225(b)(2)(A). ECF 212 additionally requires notice to the class member, the member’s attorney if known, and class counsel at least 72 hours before an intended transfer outside the First Circuit of a class member who requests a bond hearing.

What's next

November 12, 2026 at 2:30 p.m.: remote hearing on defendants’ ECF 214 motion to reconsider the transfer-notice requirement.