Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz makes seven circuits holding that mandatory detention under § 1225(b)(2)(A) stops at the border.
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The decision. In Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz, No. 25-2152 (1st Cir. Aug. 13, 2026), the First Circuit held that a noncitizen who entered the United States without inspection is not "seeking admission" under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), because that phrase means seeking lawful entry and he has already entered. His detention is governed instead by 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), which allows release on bond. The court affirmed an order requiring the government to release the petitioner or give him a bond hearing, and it affirmed the same relief for a certified class.
What it means. In July 2025 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reversed thirty years of practice and began detaining everyone present without admission under § 1225, with no bond hearing. The Board of Immigration Appeals made that position precedent in Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I&N Dec. 216 (BIA 2025). The First Circuit rejects it. Reading the two provisions the government's way, the court explained, would have made Congress's 2025 Laken Riley Act amendment to § 1226(c) entirely duplicative. Seven circuits now agree; the Fifth and Eighth do not.
For the First Circuit. Bond eligibility under § 1226(a) is the rule in cases from the immigration courts in Boston, Chelmsford, and Guaynabo, covering Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. Counsel should raise the § 1226(a) argument at the Immigration Court and preserve it before the Board, where the contrary rule of Yajure Hurtado still stands.
The limits. Guerrero Orellana binds only the First Circuit, and the class the district court certified reaches arrests within Massachusetts. It does not touch mandatory detention under § 1226(c), and it excludes people in expedited removal. The court declined to decide the due process questions. A bond hearing is a hearing, not release; the immigration judge still weighs danger and flight risk.
Case Law Watch is Emeriti Law's weekly note on decisions that matter for immigration appeals. Our appellate practice briefs these questions before the Board of Immigration Appeals. This note is general information, not legal advice.
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