Soirimar Coromoto Vazquez Chirinos, a Venezuelan national who entered the U.S. in February 2024 without inspection and later applied for asylum, was arrested by ICE agents in December 2025 while attempting to complete a change of address. She had been living in the U.S. for nearly two years and had obtained employment authorization when ICE detained her at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan.
Judge Maloney determined that Vazquez Chirinos should be detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which allows for bond hearings, rather than § 1225(b)(2)(A), which mandates detention without bond for certain immigrants. 'The Court concludes that § 1226(a), not § 1225(b)(2)(A), governs noncitizens, such as Petitioner, who have resided in the United States and were already within the United States when apprehended,' Maloney wrote, citing his reasoning from several similar recent cases in his court.
ICE had argued that Vazquez Chirinos should exhaust administrative remedies before seeking federal court intervention, but Maloney declined to enforce the exhaustion doctrine. The government contended that the mandatory detention statute applied because she was charged with inadmissibility for entering without inspection and lacking proper documentation.
The court ordered ICE to provide Vazquez Chirinos with a bond hearing under § 1226(a) within five business days or immediately release her from custody. ICE must file a status report within six business days certifying compliance and detailing the outcome of any bond hearing. The ruling follows a pattern of similar decisions by Maloney in recent immigration detention cases from the Western District of Michigan.