U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett has ruled that ICE must release a Haitian man who lives in Springfield from jail or provide him a bond hearing before an immigration judge after Barrett rejected the federal agency’s argument that he was subject to mandatory detention.Half a dozen Haitian citizens have challenged the legality of their ICE detention at the Butler County Jail in federal court, and local advocacy groups expect more detainees in southwest Ohio will file challenges soon.Barrett’s decision could be a bellwether for some of the cases.Judge Barrett wrote that the court is “puzzled” why ICE claims that Elisthene Petit Kat must be kept in custody without bond because he is an “arriving alien” who is “seeking admission” into the United States when Petit Kat has lived in the country for years. ICE, under the Trump administration, has asserted that federal immigration law requires mandatory detention of arrested noncitizens who are unlawfully present in the United States even if they have lived here for a significant amount of time. Bond hearings evaluate whether a person is a flight risk or a danger to the community. ICE agents take a man into custody at the Springfield Police Division headquarters on August 31. Joseph Cooke / Staff Joseph Cooke / Staff But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which covers Ohio and four other states, rejected this interpretation of immigration law, as did most other federal appellate courts. The U.S. Supreme Court recently said it will review the legality of the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy, and that decision likely would impact foreign nationals who are detained by ICE, including local Haitian residents.Kathleen Kersh — managing attorney with ABLE, which has represented some Haitian detainees — told the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News-Sun that some judges in the Southern District are consistently deciding that people who were paroled in, resided in the interior of the country for a period of time, and then were arrested in the interior, in places like Ohio, are not arriving aliens.“Some Southern District judges seem to be getting really frustrated because they keep saying these people are not subject to mandatory detention, and yet the immigration court judges seem to disregard these rulings and still say the individual should be classified as an arriving alien,” she said. “The fact that the immigration judges still must be getting direction to find people granted parole many years ago to be arriving aliens, even though several district court judges have explicitly held that is not a valid interpretation of the law, really speaks to how politicized immigration court has become.”Judge orders release or bond hearingOn Wednesday, Sept. 30, Judge Barrett, with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, issued an order that says that within a week ICE must release Petit Kat from detention or provide him with a “constitutionally adequate” bond hearing before an immigration judge.Barrett’s order said that if ICE does not release Petit Kat the agency should be required to provide clear and convincing evidence on the record to an immigration judge explaining why the agency believes he is either a flight risk or a danger to the community. The order says the immigration judge also should consider and explain the suitability of less restrictive alternatives to detention.Petit Kat, 38, was arrested on Aug. 15 after he was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by North Hampton police officers in Clark County. The North Hampton Police Department has an agreement with ICE that allows its officers to perform certain immigration enforcement activities.Petit Kat was arrested for allegedly missing a hearing, even though he was not provided information about this supposed hearing and he had no pending cases at the time, says his petition for writ of habeas corpus.According to the petition, Petit Kat was not assessed to determine if he was a danger or a flight risk; he was not immediately served with a warrant; and when he was locked up at the Butler County Jail, he did not speak with an ICE officer for a couple of days. ICE agents at an apartment complex in Springfield. Cornelius Frolik / Staff Cornelius Frolik / Staff Petit Kat’s attorney, in court documents, argued his arrest violated his rights and his continued detention without bond is unlawful.In a court filing, ICE said Petit Kat arrived at a port of entry, applied for admission and was paroled by immigration officials. The agency says he was an applicant for admission and seeks admission and therefore is subject to mandatory detention.Last year, the Trump administration issued guidance that said that noncitizens arrested in the United States should face mandatory detention without bond during pending removal proceedings. In the past, this policy applied to “arriving aliens” who, in general, are noncitizens who are coming or attempting to come into the United States at the border or a port-of-entry.Petit Kat’s petition says he is not an arriving alien because he lawfully entered America in June 2023. Petit Kat, who came to the United States with his partner and their young daughter to flee violence, was inspected at the border and was granted humanitarian parole and he applied for asylum, the petition states.In a court declaration, Petit Kat said he never received any notices regarding ICE check-ins and he attended his first immigration court hearing in July. Petit Kat said he has developed strong connections to Springfield and the local community, and he was a regular churchgoer, worked an automotive parts assembly factory and was the sole provider of his family. He said he also supports his 7-year-old son who remains in Haiti.Earlier this year, the Sixth Circuit federal court of appeals affirmed a lower court decision that granted the petitions of habeas corpus of several noncitizens who were detained without bond. The appellate court concluded that the government’s failure to provide a bond was unlawful in part because noncitizens who are in the country, even without authorization, must receive due process.“The government’s ability to detain noncitizens is not limitless,” the court wrote. “It should effectuate two regulatory goals: (1) ensuring the appearance of noncitizens at future immigration proceedings and (2) preventing danger to the community.”The court said, “Petitioners have ‘passed through our gates’ and are therefore protected by the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.”There are 13 federal appeals courts in the United States, and nine have ruled that the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy is unlawful. Two have sided with the Trump administration. The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced it will now review and consider the legal matter.Petit Kat’s petition raised the possibility that ICE may try to transfer him from the Butler County Jail to a detention center in a state where the courts sided with the federal government’s mandatory detention interpretation of immigration law. The federal courthouse building in downtown Dayton. Cornelius Frolik / Staff Cornelius Frolik / Staff Other Haitians seek relief from detentionDarline Jean Baptiste, a 33-year-old Haitian woman who has been detained at the Butler County Jail since Aug. 14, also has filed a habeas corpus petition seeking a bond hearing or release from ICE detention. She was arrested in Springfield while she was returning from work. ICE, which was engaging in what it called a “targeted alien enforcement operation,” put her into removal proceedings.Jean Baptiste, who entered the United States through an airport in Florida in November 2023, said in her petition that she was recently denied a bond hearing by immigration court because she was considered an arriving alien even though she was inspected and admitted through a humanitarian parole program. The immigration judge concluded he lacked jurisdiction to provide relief.Jean Baptiste’s petition says she is not a flight risk or danger to the community and she wants to return to the Springfield community as her asylum application is processed and considered. Jean Baptiste has two children in Haiti who she supports financially. She said she fled her homeland because she faced daily threats of violence and death.“If I am released, I commit to attending all future hearings in immigration court and to complying with any other restrictions the court may place on me,” she wrote in a court declaration. The Butler County Jail on Hanover Street in Hamilton houses local inmates as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees. file Archive photo On Thursday, Oct. 1, Peterson Nozil, a Haitian national who has lived in the United States since August 2022, submitted a habeas corpus petition in federal district court. The 37-year-old Springfield resident was stopped and arrested, with his family in the car, while he was on his way home.Nozil, who is locked up at the Butler County Jail, was inspected at the border, granted parole and later received temporary protected status and applied for asylum. He is seeking a bond hearing and hopes to be released.A Haitian citizen named Jean Alix Comper, who was arrested by ICE in Englewood on Sept. 4, also has challenged his detention at the Butler County Jail in federal court. He says he has been detained without bond and has not received an adequate assessment and determination that his incarceration is necessary.Paulson Saintelien, 42, who has lived in Springfield since March and who previously lived in Lima, also is seeking a bond hearing and release from the Butler County Jail. The same goes for Jodas Etienne, a 33-year-old Haitian national who lives in Springfield, who has been locked up for two months.