Full opinion text
ORDER GRANTING THE MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION; GRANTING THE MOTION FOR PROVISIONAL CLASS CERTIFICATION; GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART THE FEDERAL DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS; GRANTING IN FULL THE NON-FEDERAL DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS TO DISMISS Re: Dkt. No. 51, 54, 58, 61 VINCE CHHABRIA, United States District Judge The federal government sometimes releases noncitizens on bond or parole while their removal proceedings are pending. Release reflects a determination by the government that the noncitizen is not a danger to the community or a flight risk. Once a noncitizen has been released, the law prohibits federal agents from rearresting him merely because he is subject to removal proceedings. Rather, the federal agents must be able to present evidence of materially changed circumstances — namely, evidence that the noncitizen is in fact dangerous or has become a flight risk, or is now subject to a final order of removal. And if the noncitizen disputes the notion that changed circumstances justify his rearrest, he is entitled to a prompt hearing before an immigration judge. These protections against the erroneous deprivation of liberty arose out of a 1981 decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals and are embodied in the current practices of the Department of Homeland Security. A small group of similarly situated non-citizens, however, has not been receiving comparable protections when rearrested. Specifically, some noncitizens enter the country as unaccompanied minors — that is, children with no parent or guardian available to care for them. Under existing law, the federal government- conducts- an assessment of the minor, and either keeps him in custody while his removal proceedings are pending or places him with a suitable “sponsor” in the United States. The sponsor is often a family member, and the minor’s placement with the sponsor reflects a determination by the federal government that the minor is neither dangerous nor a flight risk (and that such a placement is in the child’s best interest). Recently, federal agents have been arresting noncitizens — including some minors who were previously placed with sponsors — based on allegations of gang involvement! Instead of giving those minors a prompt hearing to dispute that their detention is now justified based on changed circumstances, the government has been transferring them to different parts of the country for placement in high-security facilities .for an indefinite period. The issue in this case is not whether federal agents may arrest and detain undocumented minors who truly are members of dangerous criminal gangs. If federal agents have probable cause to believe that a minor is a member -of a criminal gang, certainly that could be a “changed circumstance” that would justify detention, even if the government had previously determined that the minor was not dangerous. But there is no reason to deny these minors protections that noncitizens typically get after having been released on bond or parole. The, minors and their sponsors have the right to participate in a prompt hearing before an immigration judge in which the government’s evidence of changed circumstances is put to the test.. By shipping the.minors across the country for indefinite detention in a high-security facility before providing that hearing, the government has violated their due process rights. Accordingly, for any noncitizen minor previously placed with a sponsor who has been arrested on allegations of gang activity, the government is ordered to provide a hearing before an immigration judge by no later than November 29, 2017, to allow the minor and his sponsor to contest the government’s evidence of changed circumstances. The- government must restore the minor to the ’sponsor’s custody if such evidence is lacking. Going forward, at least while this lawsuit is pending, the government is ordered to provide such a hearing within seven days of arrest of any such minor. The plaintiffs have asked for further relief, and they have asserted additional legal theories. Further relief máy be warranted, but because the minors are clearly entitled to at least this due process protection, and bécause their need for that protection is time-sensitive, a preliminary injunction on this issue is warranted at this time. I. In the Spring of 2017, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), which is a' division of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), executed “Operation Matador” in two New York counties. Operation Matador targeted undocumented immigrants in Suffolk- and Nassau Counties who had alleged connections to criminal gangs. After receiving allegations of gang affiliation from local law enforcement officers, ICE agents proceeded'to arrest the alleged gang members, relying on ICE’s authority under federal law to arrest noncitizens who are subject to removal from the country. See Tr. of Oct. 27, 2017 Hearing at 23-28, Dkt. No. 98. Some of the people arrested were minors. And ICE decided, after, making the arrests, that some of the minors fell within a certain legal category: “unaccompanied” minors. Under federal law, an unaccompanied minor is a child who comes across the border without any parent or. legal guardian in the United States available to. take care of ■ them. 6 U.S.C. § 279(g)(2). When DHS takes, custody of an uhaccompanied minor, federal law requires that agency to transfer custody of the minor to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (“ORR”), a division within a different cabinet-level agency, namely, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”). The statutory purpose behind this transfer requirement is to provide special protections for unaccompanied minors, a particularly vulnerable group. In particular, Congress created this framework to address the concern that unaccompanied minors may be victims of human trafficking operations or other criminal activity, concluding that HHS was better equipped to assess and attend to the needs of these minors than DHS. The primary federal statute that confers this and other protections on unaccompanied minors. is called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, or TVPRA. Pub. L. No. 110-457, § 235, 122 Stat. 5044, 5074-82 (2008) (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1232); see also 6 U.S.C. § 279. When an unaccompanied minor is taken into custody by DHS and then ORR, typically proceedings begin before an immigration judge (under the auspices of the Department of Justice) to decide whether the minor should be removed from the country. The TVPRA requires ORR to decide where to place the minor while the removal proceedings are pending. The statute requires ORR to place the unaccompanied minor “in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child,” considering, among other things, whether the minor is dangerous. 8 U.S.C. § 1232(c)(2)(A). ORR may release the minor to a “sponsor” who already lives in the country but was not with the minor when DHS picked him up — often a parent or relative — so long as the minor is not dangerous and the placement is otherwise suitable. If placement with a sponsor is not appropriate (either because there is no sponsor, or because the proposed sponsor is unsuitable, or because the minor is dangerous), ORR will detain 'the minor in a facility pending resolution of the removal proceedings. Id.; see also 6 U.S.C. § 279(b)(2)(B). The facilities used by ORR have three security levels. The least'réstrictive level is a shelter facility, the medium level is a staff-séeure facility, and the most restrictive level is a.secure facility. The secure facility is akin to a local juvenile hall — in fact, ORR uses local juvenile halls to house the most dangerous unaccompanied minors, pursuant to contracts with local governments. See, e.g., Supp. Decl. of Julia Mass (June 23, 2017), Ex. 2 at 1-3, Dkt. No. 19-3; Decl. of Ashley Corkery (“Corkery Decl.”), Ex. B at 77, Dkt. No. 61-3. In addition to local governments, QRR contracts with private entities (typically nonprofits) to take custody of unaccompanied minors. See, e.g., Corkery Decl., Ex. B at 77; Esquivel Mot. To Dismiss at 4 n.2, Dkt. No. 58. But under Operation Matador, the minors that ICE arrested and classified as “unaccompanied” minors were not your typical unaccompanied minors. That is, they were not people who just came across the border, with no parent or guardian immediately available to care for them. Rather, these minors had come across the border previously — often years before — as unaccompanied minors, and had already once been placed into the custody of ORR. As required by the TVPRA, ORR conducted an assessment of these unaccompanied minors shortly after they arrived, to determine where they should be placed while the federal government decided whether to remove them from the country. And it appears that for each minor, ORR made the determination that the minors should be placed' with sponsors rather than detained. Placement was often with parents who were eventually identified as already living in the country. In other words, the federal government' had already determined, some time previously, that the minors arrested in Operation Matador were not dangerous. Three of those minors are now part of this lawsuit, although initially it was only one. The first minor, who goes by the initials A.H., came into the country from Honduras in 2015, unaccompanied by a parent or. guardian. Decl. of.A.H. (June 22, 2017) at 2, Dkt. No. 8. He fled an abusive father, and shortly after arriving in the United- States he was .placed in an ORR facility , in New York. Approximately one month later, ■ ORR released A.H. to live with his mother in Long Island, where he remained until this past June. Id. at 2-3. A.H. had two encounters with the criminal justice system during this time. The first was an incident with a fellow student at his high school that resulted in charges of menacing and possession of a weapon, both of which were adjourned in contemplation of' dismissal after A.H. completed a pre-plea community service program. The second was a low-level charge for possession of marijuana', which also was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. Decl. of Stephanie Gibbs (June 22, 2017) at' 4-5, Dkt. No. 1Ó. According to A.H., a friend with whom he was arrested admitted to having been part of a gang in the past, but A.H. denied any involvement with gangs. Decl. óf A.H. (June 22,2017) at 3. On June 12, A.H. was arrested by two plainclothes, ICE officers on the street near his house. A.H. was placed in a cell in Central Islip, New.York, and then in a cell in Manhattan. Around 3:30 a.m. the next morning, A.H. was put on a flight to California. He was then taken to the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility in Woodland, California. Decl. of A.H. (June 22, 2017) at 3-5. The detention facility where A.H. was sent is run by Yolo.County, in the Eastern District of California, pursuant to a contract with ORR. Supp. Decl. of Julia Mass (June 23, 2017), Ex. 2 at 1-3. Prior to his transfer, DHS reported to ORR that A.H. was gang affiliated and provided a criminal history summary. This summary incorrectly reported the date for A.H.’s 2016 menacing and weapons charges, stating they had occurred a few weeks prior to his arrest by ICE. The summary did not acknowledge that all of A.H.’s charges had been adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. See Corkery Decl., Ex. B at 12:24-15:25, 47:14-49:6, 52:20-53:16; Corkery Decl., Ex. N, Dkt. No. 68-3; Decl. of Daniel Loechner at 2, Dkt. No. 15-1, On June 22, 2017, while he was in the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility, A.H. filed this lawsuit, which was captioned as a “Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief.” He brought the lawsuit against a variety of federal defendants, including the Attorney General, the Secretary of HHS, and the Director of ORR. The lawsuit also named as a defendant ORR Federal Field Specialist Elicia Smith, who is located in San Francisco and is responsible for ensuring that the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility performs its obligations under the contract with ORR. Finally, the lawsuit named Brent Cardall, who, as Chief Probation Officer for Yolo County, is in charge of day-to-day operations at the Detention Facility. As the caption implies, the lawsuit sought two different types of relief. First, it sought a writ of habeas corpus. The purpose of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus is typically to obtain release from custody, based on a wrongful conviction or some other unlawful detention. Second, A.H.’s lawsuit included a- request for declaratory and injunctive relief. That is, he sought a judicial declaration that his detention by the federal government was unlawful, and an injunction requiring the government to either release him or give him a prompt hearing to allow him to challenge the determination that he was dangerous and needed to be locked in a secure facility. He asserted several different legal theories, including under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the TVPRA. He also complained that ORR’s conduct was preventing him from participating in his ongoing immigration proceedings in New York. A.H. appeared to assert each of these legal theories in connection with his pursuit of habeas relief as well as his pursuit declaratory and in-junctive relief, although the lawsuit was unclear on this point. Along with his lawsuit, A.H. filed an application for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) in which he asked the Court to order ORR to release him, or at least to require that ORR give him an opportunity to contest the allegations that he was gang-affiliated or otherwise dangerous enough to warrant placement in a secure facility. The Court held a hearing on a very tight timeframe and ruled on the TRO application from the bench. The Court concluded that A.H. had raised serious questions: about whether the government had violated the TVPRA by failing to give him an opportunity to demonstrate that ORR had not placed him in the least restrictive setting appropriate for his circumstances, and ordered ORR to promptly provide him that opportunity to be heard. Tr. of June 29, 2017 Hearing at 86-94, Dkt. No. 28. In response to the presentation by A.H. and his lawyers regarding the alleged gang affiliation, ORR determined that A.H. should be moved from the secure facility in Yolo County to a staff-secure facility (which provides the middle level of security) in New York. See Notice of Decision, Ex. A at 5, Dkt. No. 27-1; Decl. of James De La Cruz (Sept. 14, 2017) at 1, Dkt. No. 54-3. Counsel for A.H. informed the Court at a case management conference that, in light of this transfer to a less restrictive facility much closer to home and to his ongoing immigration proceedings, A.H. would not be seeking further emergency relief by way of the TRO application. On August 11, an amended lawsuit was filed. The amended lawsuit is again a combined petition for a writ of habeas corpus and a complaint for declaratory and in-junctive relief. But it adds two other minors in ORR custody — F.E. and J.G.— both of whom had previously been released by ORR to family members under sponsorship agreements. ICE arrested F.E. in Suffolk County on June 16, presumably as part of Operation Matador, and transferred him to a secure facility, Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Virginia, three days later. Decl. of Bryan S. Johnson at 2, Dkt. No. 61-17. On July 6, F.E. was “stepped down” to a staff-secure facility in Fairfield, California, and on August 4, F.E. was further stepped down to a shelter facility in Lincolndale, New York. Decl. of James De La Cruz (Sept. 14, 2017) at 2. ICE also arrested J.G. on June 16 in Suffolk County. He was transferred the following day to the secure facility in Yolo County and, on July 26, was moved to a staff-secure facility in Tacoma, Washington. Id.; Decl. of J.G. at 4-5, Dkt. No. 61-9. The lawsuit seeks relief for not just the three minors who are now bringing the action, but for a class of similarly situated minors in ORR custody. And the amended lawsuit names a wider array of defendants. Recall that AH.’s initial lawsuit named the Attorney General, officials in HHS/ORR, and the person in charge of the Yolo detention facility. The new lawsuit continues to name those people as defendants, but adds the Acting Secretary of DHS and other officials within DHS/ICE. It also adds Jose Esquivel, an employee of the private nonprofit organization BCFS Health and Human Services, which operates, pursuant to a contract with ORR, the Fairfield staff-secure facility that F.E. passed through. Esquivel is the interim program director of that facility. The amended lawsuit also asserts a somewhat different series of legal theories (all of which, again, seem to be put forward in connection with both the request for habeas relief and the request for declaratory/injunctive relief). The first alleged legal violation is that the minors were unlawfully arrested in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the TVPRA, and the Administrative Procedure Act. (This new claim for unlawful arrest is why the amended lawsuit added the defendants from DHS/ICE — those officials were responsible for the arrests.) The second alleged legal violation is that the minors were deprived of their liberty without procedural due process, contrary to the Fifth Amendment. The third is that the minors were deprived of their liberty in violation of the substantive component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the TVPRA. The plaintiffs further allege that the defendants violated the terms of ,the consent decree in Reno v. Flores, which sets standards the government must follow in housing noncitizen minors, and that the defendants interfered with their First and Fifth Amendment rights to access the courts and petition the government. The federal defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the entire case, on a variety of. procedural and substantive grounds. The most significant procedural objections, described more fully below, are that there is no habeas jurisdiction in this judicial district with respect to any of the three minors, and that this district is also not the proper venue for their declaratory and in-junctive relief claims. Meanwhile, the two non-federal defendants (Cardall, the official who runs the Yolo County detention facility, and Esquivel, the employee of the nonprofit organization that operates the facility in Fairfield) have filed motions to dismiss on the ground that they are not proper defendants in this lawsuit. In turn, the minors have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, and they seek to' provisionally certify a class of unaccompanied minors for purposes of that motion. The minors contend that at least thirteen others have been arrested for similar reasons and are being detained without a meaningful opportunity to contest the basis for their detention. The minors assert only two of their legal theories in support of their request for a class-wide preliminary injunction: unlawful arrest and violation of procedural due process. The minors and their attorneys ask the Court to rule quickly on their request for a .preliminary injunction. That is understandable — the minors are in custody, they’ve been in custody for several months, now, and they contend the custody is unlawful. But the manner .in which this action was brought and then expanded (beginning with a combined habeas petition and complaint by A.H., then growing to a combined habeas petition and complaint by three different minors, held in three different facilities around the country, against an expanded group of defendants, seeking relief not merely for themselves but for all other similarly situated undocumented minors) creates a host of difficult and time-consuming procedural questions. This puts the Court in a difficult position. In an effort to balance the need for a prompt ruling on the request for preliminary in-junctive relief for minors being detained by the federal government against the need to ensure that such relief would be procedurally and substantively proper, this ruling addresses only the strongest claim for preliminary injunctive relief and only the one with no potentially significant procedural obstacles to granting that relief. The issues presented by the pending motions that are not decided in this ruling will remain under submission. II. As discussed, three people are now suing in this case. They have combined two distinct types' of action in this one lawsuit — a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and a complaint for' declaratory and in-junctive relief. They assert a variety of different legal claims, under a variety of different constitutional provisions and statutes, against a, variety of different defendants. The case largely arises from a law enforcement operation that took place in New York and the implementation of policies developed in Washington, D.C. The first task, therefore, is. to determine which people may properly sue in this judicial district, which types of action they may bring, and which defendants they may.sue. For the reasons that follow, A.H. may pursue habeas relief in this judicial district against Elicia Smith, the local ORR official. However, F.E. and J.G. may not pursue habeas relief in this district, because they have .not named the proper respondents, nor do the proper respondents reside in this district. Furthermore, F.E. and J.G. may not . pursue their claims, for declaratory and injunctive relief in this district, because venue is not proper for those claims. F.E. and J.G. are therefore- dismissed as named plaintiffs, without prejudice to refiling their actions in the appropriate jurisdiction. The most difficult procedural question is whether A.H. may, in conjunction with seeking habeas relief in this district, pursue his action for additional declaratory and injunctive relief here. In light of the unusual circumstances of this case, the Court will exercise its discretion to adjudicate the. declaratory and injunctive relief claims under the doctrine of pendent venue, rather than requiring A.H. to pursue habeas relief in this judicial district while pursuing his closely-intertwined declaratory and injunctive relief claims in a different judicial district. A. The first question is whether A.H, may seek habeas relief in this district. The government contends there is no habeas jurisdiction here, because A.H.’s custodian at the time he brought his original lawsuit does not reside here. As the government notes, when A.H. brought his habeas claim, he was held in the Juvenile Detention Facility in Yolo County, which is in the Eastern District of California. This means, according to the government, that the proper respondent to A.H.’s habeas petition is the head of the Detention Facility. In support of its position, the government cites Rumsfeld v. Padilla, a case that structures the inquiry but which does not resolve whether this Court has habeas jurisdiction over A.H. 542 U.S. 426, 435 n.8, 124 S.Ct. 2711, 159 L.Ed.2d 513 (2004). Rumsfeld v. Padilla applied the “immediate custodian rule” -to a habeas petition filed by a U.S. citizen detained in military custody in South Carolina. See id. at 430-32, 442, 124 S.Ct. 2711. The immediate custodian rule is the long-held “default rule” that the proper respondent to a habeas petition challenging present physical confinement “is the warden of the facility where [a] prisoner is being held, not the Attorney General or some other remote supervisory official.” Id. at 435-89, 124 S.Ct. 2711; see also Wales v. Whitney, 114 U.S. 564, 574, 5 S.Ct. 1050, 29 L.Ed. 277 (1885). Unlike a typical habeas petitioner challenging imprisonment following a criminal conviction, Padilla challenged detention resulting from a military order by the President deeming him an enemy combatant. 542 U.S. at 431, 124 S.Ct. 2711. The Supreme Court concluded that, notwithstanding the unique circumstances leading to his detention, Padilla’s habeas petition was ultimately still a challenge to present physical confinement by the executive branch and, as such, jurisdiction was governed by the default rule. Id. at 441-42, 124 S.Ct. 2711. Applying the immediate custodian rule to Padilla’s case, the Court held that the only proper respondent to his habeas petition was the commander in charge of the brig in South Carolina where he was held. Id. at 439-42, 124 S.Ct. 2711. Because Padilla had named the correct respondent, among other officials, the Court then turned to the question whether the Southern District of New York, the federal court in which Padilla’s petition was filed, had habeas jurisdiction over that petition. The Court interpreted its prior cases addressing the scope of habeas jurisdiction as consistent with “the general rule that for core habeas petitions challenging present physical confinement, jurisdiction lies in only one district: the district of confinement.” Id. at 443, 124 S.Ct. 2711. It then applied that rule to Padilla’s case, concluding that Padilla was required to file in the District of South Carolina, the district of his confinement, and that the Southern District of New York therefore could not entertain Padilla’s petition. Id. at 451, 124 S.Ct. 2711. Padilla refused to decide who the proper respondent is in the immigration detention context, and no controlling authority since has resolved the issue. See id. at 435 n.8, 124 S.Ct. 2711. Courts have taken various approaches. Some have applied the immediate custodian rule in a straightforward fashion. See, e.g., Kholyavskiy v. Achim, 443 F.3d 946, 953 (7th Cir. 2006) (warden of the county facility holding an immigration detainee was the proper respondent); Nken v. Napolitano, 607 F.Supp.2d 149, 159-61 (D.D.C. 2009) (correct respondent was the warden of the facility holding an individual subject to a final order of removal); Zhen Yi Guo v. Napolitano, No. 09 CIV 3023 PGG, 2009 WL 2840400, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 2, 2009) (warden of county prison was the appropriate respondent). Other courts have held that national-level policymaking officials are proper respondents. See, e.g., Carmona v. Aitken, No. 14-CV-05321-JSC, 2015 WL 1737839, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 10, 2015) (U.S. Attorney General and DHS Secretary were the proper respondents, as officials “with the actual authority to effectuate the prisoner’s release”); Bogarin-Flores v. Napolitano, No. 12CV0399 JAH (WMC), 2012 WL 3283287, at *2 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2012) (Attorney General and DHS were the proper respondents, not the warden of the contract facility in which the petitioner was held); Farez-Espinoza v. Chertoff, 600 F.Supp.2d 488, 494 (S.D.N.Y. 2009) (DHS Secretary and Attorney General were proper respondents); see also Santos v. Smith, 260 F.Supp.3d 598, 608-09, 2017 WL 2389722, at *8 (W.D. Va. 2017) (declining to dismiss ORR director where a minor was held in an ORR contract facility). Still other courts have concluded that the federal agent charged with overseeing the non-federal detention facility in which the noncitizen is held should be sued. See Khodr v. Adduci, 697 F.Supp.2d 774, 776 (E.D. Mich. 2010) (proper respondent was the ICE District Director, not the warden of county jail); Abner v. Sec’y of Dep’t of Homeland Security, No. 06CV308(JBA), 2006 WL 1699607, at *3-4 (D. Conn. June 19, 2006) (ICE field office director, not warden of county facility, was the correct respondent); Zabadi v. Chertoff, No. C 05-01796 WHA, 2005 WL 1514122, at *3 (N.D. Cal. June 17, 2005) (ICE district director, also known as the field office director, who could direct the county warden to release the petitioner was the proper respondent); see also Roman v. Ashcroft, 340 F.3d 314, 320 (6th Cir. 2003) (INS District Director for the area including the detention center was the proper respondent). There is no compelling distinction between criminal custody and immigration custody as such. Courts holding that immigration cases should be treated differently, and that the Attorney General or Secretary of DHS should be the proper respondent in those cases, tend to base this conclusion on the fact that these national officials have the true authority to order the release of the detainee. But if that logic drove the “proper respondent” inquiry, Padilla would have come out differently. Under the logic of Padilla, there’s no reason to conclude that, if A.H. were confined in a detention facility administered by federal immigration officials when he brought his habeas petition, he could have named anyone other than the federal official acting as the warden of that facility. But A.H. faced a different situation here: he was held in a facility run by an entity other than the federal government, pursuant to a contract with the federal government. Where a petitioner is held in a facility solely pursuant to a contract, rather than by the state or federal government itself, application of the immediate custodian rule must take account of that fact. See, e.g., Bogarin-Flores, 2012 WL 3283287, at *2. Instead of naming the individual in charge of the contract facility— who may be a county official or an employee of a private nonprofit organization — a petitioner held in federal detention in a non-federal facility pursuant to a contract should sue the federal official most directly responsible for overseeing that contract facility when seeking a habeas writ. In other words,, the distinction is not between a.“traditional” detention and an immigration-related detention. The distinction is between a case where the detainee is held in a federal facility, and a case where the detainee is held in a facility operated by some other entity pursuant to contract with the federal government. This rule is a sensible reconciliation of Padilla’s instruction to look to the person with “the power to produce the body of [the petitioner] before the court,” ordinarily, the warden of the facility holding .-the petitioner, and the reality that the named plaintiffs are being held in federal custody by other-than-federal actors who are poorly situated to defend federal interests. Padilla, 542 U.S. at 435, 124 S.Ct. 2711 (citation omitted). When A.H. filed his original habeas petition, he was held in a secure facility administered by Yolo County. Decl. of A.H. (June 22, 2017) at 5-6. The federal defendants contend that A.H. should have named only Cardall, the Chief Probation Officer for Yolo County, as a respondent, because Cardall acted as the warden of that secure facility. But a Yolo County employee has custody of an immigration detainee like A.H, only to the extent provided by the facility’s contract with the federal government. It is pursuant to the power and authority of the federal government — not Yolo County — that A.H. is in custody. So, the federal official with most immediate control over the facility holding the petitioner — that is, the federal official tasked with ensuring that Yolo County complies with the requirements of its contract with ORR — is the proper respondent. This case provides a telling example of the conflicts of interest that could arise under the government’s contrary rule. Were Cardall the only proper respondent to A.H.’s habeas'petition, he would presumably be tasked with defending the federal government’s decision to hold A.H. in custody. But Cardall, Who is not a federal actor and who is not represented by the Department of Justice in this case, has taken the position that the Yolo County Probation Department did not have just cause to keep most of the undocumented minors that passed through Yolo County prior to August 26, 2017 in secure custody. See Corkery Decl., Ex. C at 3; Corkery Decl., Ex. D, Dkt.. No. 61-3. Requiring Cardall to be the sole defender of the federal government’s interests under the circumstances would make little sense, Padilla, which held that the federal actor With immediate control over the petitioner was the proper respondent for a petitioner in federal custody, does not stand for the proposition that a person in what is indisputably federal custody should sue a county official like Cardall (or, as would be true in many eases, an employee of a private nonprofit organization) to seek habeas relief. Therefore, A.H. properly sued Federal Field Specialist Elida Smith, the federal official tasked with enforcing the contract pursuant to which A.H. was held in Yolo County. ORR Senior Field Program Specialist Supervisor James De La Cruz agreed that it was Smith’s responsibility to make “sure that [ORR] policies regarding the custody of unaccompanied minors are followed by those county officials.” Cork-ery Deck, Ex. B at 80. She “has jurisdiction over the... detention of persons under ORR supervision within th[e] geographic area” including Yolo County, and her responsibilities include “ensuring] that children placed under the auspices of the Office[ ] of Refugee Resettlement receive the services required by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and that the programs that are in [the], geographical.. .location assigned to her follow ORR’s policies and procedures.,...” Id. .at 54-55. Since it appears that she is the individual most immediately responsible for enforcing the federal contract under whose authority A.H. is held, she is the proper target of his habeas petition. What makes Smith the proper respondent with respect to A.H. is not any power to make binding decisions about A.H.’s custody. The record strongly suggests she had no such authority over A.H. when he was in her custody, just as the commander .of the brig in Padilla did not actually have legal authority to release Padilla. See Decl. of James De La Cruz (Sept. 14, 2017) at 1-2, Dkt. No. 54-3; Decl. of James De La Cruz (June 27, 2017) at 3-4, Dkt. No. 15-2. Although one can imagine a sensible contrary rule, Padilla instructs courts not to look to the official who exercises legal control over the petitioner where present physical confinement is at issue. 542 U.S. at 439, 124 S.Ct. 2711, Otherwise, Padilla cautions, any convicted federal prisoner could name the Attorney General as a respondent, a result “the statutory language, established practice, and [Supreme Court] precedent” counsel against. Id. at 439-40, 124 S.Ct. 2711. At least where a readily identifiable federal official exercises more immediate control over a contract facility than the Attorney General or another department head, as is the case here, Padilla requires a petitioner challenging present physical custody to name that more immediate official. See Abner, 2006 WL 1699607, at *3. Because Smith is the proper respondent, this Court has habeas jurisdiction over A.H.’s habeas petition. So long as the proper respondent falls. within this Court’s.territorial jurisdiction, habeas jurisdiction exists. See Padilla, 542 U.S. at 442-44, 124 S.Ct. 2711. No party disputes that Elicia Smith is based in San Francisco, within this Court’s territorial jurisdiction. See Corkery Decl., Ex. B at 54; Corkery Decl., Ex. E (HHS) at 4493-94, 5733, Dkt. No. 68-4. AH.’s individual ha-beas petition therefore is properly before this court, even if the practical effect of habeas relief would be that the conduct of officials elsewhere, and not the conduct of Smith, is affected. B. When the amended complaint was filed, J.G. and F.E. joined the case, and they sought habeas relief as well. However, unlike A.H., who was confined in Yolo County when he first filed the case on his own, J.G. and F.E. were not in ORR custody in California when they joined the case. Rather, J.G. was detained by ORR in a contract facility in Tacoma, Washington, and F.E. was in a contract facility in LinColndale, New York. See Am. Pet. at 22, 24, Dkt. No. 31. J.G. and F.E. do not contend that Elicia Smith is responsible for overseeing the operation of these ORR facilities in'Washington and New York, nor do they name any other respondent who could plausibly be construed to be their immediate custodian. The plaintiffs instead contend that Smith is a proper respondent for J.G. and F.E. because it is possible that J.G. and F.E. will be returned to her custody in the future. Pls.’ Reply Br. at 19-20, Dkt. No. 73. But as already discussed, where a habeas petitioner challenges his present physical confinement, as J.G. and F.E. do, Padilla leaves no room for him to select the proper respondent from among possible future custodians. See 542 U.S. at 439, 124 S.Ct. 2711. -In light of the interpretation of Padilla articulated above, J.G. and F.E. have not named the proper respondents to their habeas petitions—the Federal Field Specialists (or perhaps the directors of the regional offices) charged with overseeing the contract facilities in which they presently -are held. Even had they named the appropriate federal custodians, it is unlikely that this Court would have habeas jurisdiction over them, as the proper respondents presumably are based in the Pacific Northwest and on the East Coast. Accordingly, J.G. and F.E.’s individual habeas petitions must be dismissed without prejudice. See Stanley v. Cal. Supreme Court, 21 F.3d 359, 360 (9th Cir. 1994), as amended( May 18, 1994). C. Although this Court does' not have jurisdiction over J.G. and F.E.’s, habeas petitions, their claims for declaratory and injunctive relief could in theory proceed separately in this district. But because venue is not proper in this district for these-additional claims, J.G. and F.E. will be dismissed entirely fi'om this case. Because the defendants here have challenged venue, the burden is on the plaintiffs to demonstrate that' venue is proper in the Northern District of California. United Tactical Sys. LLC v. Real Action Paintball, Inc., 108 F.Supp.3d 733, 751 (N.D. Cal. 2015); see also Piedmont Label Co. v. Sun Garden Packing Co., 598 F.2d 491, 496 (9th Cir. 1979). In the absence of any nexus to this district grounded in habeas, J.G. and F.E. must show that their declaratory and injunctive relief claims are independently subject to venue in this Court. Whether they can depends on the provisions of the federal venue statute, which provides that, in a case against a federal officer acting in her official capacity, venue is proper where “(A) a defendant in the action resides, (B) a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred .,., or (C) the plaintiff resides if no real property is involved, in the action.” 28 U.S.C. § 1391(e)(1). The Court works through these different bases for venue in reverse. The first inquiry is straightforward. There is no contention that J.G. and F.E. reside in this district. Both J.G. and F.E. lived in Brentwood, New York, prior to their arrests. Decl. of J.G. at 2, Dkt. No. 61-9; Decl. of F.E. at 1, Dkt. No. 61-11. When the amended complaint was filed, J.G. was detained in Tacoma, Washington, while F.E. was detained in Lincolndale, New York. Decl. of J.G. at 5; Decl. of F.E. at 4. The second inquiry is somewhat closer, but the Court ultimately concludes that only an insubstantial portion of the events giving rise to J.G. and F.E’s claims occurred in this district. “To determine whether a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claim occurred in the forum, the court first considers what acts or omissions by the defendants give rise to the plaintiffs’ claims.” United Tactical Sys. LLC, 108 F.Supp.3d at 752 (alteration and citation omitted). After “identifying] the alleged wrongful acts, the court must determine whether a substantial part of those acts took place in the forum.” All. for Multilingual Multicultural Educ. v. Garcia, No. C 11-0215 PJH, 2011 WL 2532478, at *7 (N.D. Cal. June 24, 2011) (citing Daniel v. Am. Bd. of Emergency Med., 428 F.3d 408, 432 (2d Cir. 2005); and Jenkins Brick Co. v. Bremer, 321 F.3d 1366, 1372 (11th Cir. 2003)). Some of J.G. and F.E.’s declaratory and injunctive relief claims are predicated on their allegedly unlawful arrests by ICE agents in New York. The remainder are based on the absence of any process provided by DHS and ORR for ensuring a reliable factual basis for their rearrests and detentions in ORR facilities, with the minors arguing that they should have received a hearing either before they were arrested in New York, or immediately after they were arrested in New York and before they were transferred across the country. Every indication is that DHS and ORR handled J.G. and F.E.’s cases in accordance with nationwide agency policy, set in Washington, D.C. See Corkery Deck, Ex. E (HHS) at 3728-31, Dkt. No. 60-3; Corkery Deck, Ex. N. Pursuant to those challenged DHS and ORR policies, J.G. and F.E. were detained in various locations, each of which might give rise to venue but none of which was in the Northern District of California. J.G. was transferred to a secure detention facility in Yolo County, in the Eastern District of California, shortly after his arrest, and then to a staff-secure facility in Tacoma, Washington, where he remains. Deck of J.G. at 4-5. F.E. was first transferred to a secure facility in Shenandoah, Virginia, then to a staff-secure facility in Fairfield, California — also in the Eastern District — and finally to a shelter facility in New York. Deck of F.E. at 3-4. The evidence shows that ORR officials in Washington, D.C., and Phoenix approved each of these custody changes. Deck of James De La Cruz Deck (Sept. 14,2017) at 1-2. Although none of these events took place in the Northern District, the plaintiffs contend that Smith’s involvement in J.G. and F.E.’s cases is sufficient to constitute a “substantial part, of the events” giving rise to their claims for declaratory and injunctive relief. The plaintiffs allege that Smith “serves as the approval authority for transfer and release decisions” regarding the named plaintiffs and proposed class members, but the evidence does not bear out this allegation. Am. Pet. at 3, 5, Dkt. No. 31; see Doe 1 v. AOL LLC, 552 F.3d 1077, 1081 (9th Cir. 2009) (stating that, when assessing a motion to dismiss for improper venue, “pleadings need not be accepted as true, and facts outside the pleadings may be considered”). The record merely shows that Smith was ORR’s point of contact with Yolo County. She ensured that Yolo County was aware of ORR’s policies, facilitated communication between more senior ORR officials and Yolo County officials, and received feedback on the appropriateness of the named plaintiffs’ placements. Corkery Deck, Ex. F (YOLO) at 60-61, 69-70, Dkt. No. 60-4; Ex. E (HHS) at 818-19, 4493-94, 5904-11. Smith also helped coordinate the response to the earlier TRO application..in this ,case. Corkery Deck, Ex. ,E (HHS) at 5904-11. And after .this Court granted the TRO application, she was apparently involved in helping ensure compliance with the Court’s order, .seeking corroborating information that would justify the minors’ initial placements in secure facilities. Corkery Deck,, Ex. E (HHS) at 5734; Ex. F. (YOLO) at 13-16, 39-44. But this conduct largely took place after the fact — that is, after the allegedly unlawful arrest, and after the allegedly unlawful decision, to deny A.H. a hearing before shipping him across the country to Yolo County. It’s true that the venue statute “does not require that a majority of the events have occurred in the district where suit is filed, nor does it require that' the events in that district predominate.” United Tactical Sys. LLC, 108 F.Supp.3d at 752 (quoting Rodriguez v. Cal. Highway Patrol, 89 F.Supp.2d 1131, 1136 (N.D. Cal. 2000)). But “significant events or omissions material to the plaintiffs claim must have occurred in the. district in question, even if other material events occurred elsewhere.” Id. (citation omitted). In comparison to the primary events and omissions giving rise to J.G. and F.E.’s declaratory and injunctive relief claims — their arrests, them lack of a hearing before being transferred to ORR facilities, and their continued detention in those facilities without a proper assessment of dangerousness — Smith’s role is marginal, not significant. The final inquiry under the venue statute turns on a related analysis: whether Elicia Smith, the only defendant who resides in the Northern District of California, is a proper defendant as to J.G. and F.E.’s declaratory and injunctive, relief claims. If she is, then it seems venue would be proper as to all the federal defendants. See 28 U.S.C. § 1391(e)(1) (providing that venue in a lawsuit against a federal officer exists “where a defendant in the action resides” (emphasis added)). But she is not a proper defendant. As described above, Smith played a relatively minor role in the trajectory of the named plaintiffs’ arrest and custody. She was not involved in the New York arrests, nor is there any evidence she was involved in developing the current policy providing for the transfer of previously released non-citizen minors to secure ORR custody without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard. Accordingly, the declaratory and injunctive relief the plaintiffs seek — which aims to halt such arrests and impose a process for testing the factual basis for detaining a previously released minor — is not directed at Smith, who appears to have no policy-making authority and no ability to finally approve placement decisions regarding minors in the named plaintiffs’ position. See Am. Pet. at 35-37; Decl. of James De La Cruz (June 27, 2017) at 3-4. To the extent Smith might be implicated at all by the amended petition’s requested relief, it is only as to the request to release A.H. from custody, in other words, the habeas relief already discussed/ Smith is therefore not a proper defendant to J.G. and F.E.ls declaratory and injunctive relief claims. She thus cannot serve as the anchor to the Northern District of California that makes venue proper in this district for their non-habeas claims. Finally, the fact that J.G. and F.E. seek to be named plaintiffs alongside A.H., whose action is properly brought in this district, does not allow them to overcome these venue problems. At least in most instances,- the rule in a proposed class action is that each named plaintiff must independently establish venue. See Ambriz v. Coca Cola Co., No. 13-CV-03539-JST, 2014 WL 296159, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2014) (citing Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 1-cr-2252-MJJ, 2001 WL 1902806 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 3, 2001) for the proposition that “the general rule [is] that each plaintiff in a class action must individually" satisfy venue”); Amochaev v. Citigroup Glob. Markets Inc., No. C-05-1298 PJH, 2007 WL 484778, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2007). The plaintiffs have provided no convincing explanation for why that rule should hot apply here. Therefore, along with their habeas claims, the . declaratory and injunctive relief claims by J.G. and F.E. are dismissed without prejudice. This means J.G. and F.E. are dismissed entirely as named plaintiffs from this lawsuit. D. .Notwithstanding the, conclusion . that there is habeas jurisdiction over A.H.’s petition in this district, whether venue is proper for A.H.’s additional declaratory and injunctive relief claims is a separate and difficult question. For the same reasons discussed ..above, Elicia Smith, the only defendant with a nexus to this. district, is not the proper defendant for the separate declaratory and injunctive- relief A.H. seeks. And, even as-to A.H., no substantial portion of the events giving rise to his declaratory and injunctive relief claims occurred here. Like J.G. and F.E., A;H. grounds these additional claims on an arrest that occurred in New York and the absence of a prompt and adequate process for challenging the bases for that arrest and his subsequent detention in ORR custody. Importantly, A.H. seeks through this lawsuit to implement a process that would occur before similarly situated minors are transported from. their place of arrest to Yolo County, where they might plausibly fall under Smith’s jurisdiction. Because there .appears to be no independent basis for venue, over declaratory and injunctive relief claims going beyond the relief sought -in A.H.’s habeas petition, venue in this district would have to arise under the- doctrine of pendent venue. Under this doctrine, “[o]nce a court has determined that venue is proper as to one claim, it -may- exercise pendent venue to adjudicate closely related claims.” United Tactical Sys. LLC, 108 F.Supp.3d at 753; see also, e.g., Beattie v. United States, 756 F.2d 91, 100-04 (D.C. Cir.1984), overruled on other grounds inSmith v. United States, 507 U.S. 197, 113 S.Ct. 1178, 122 L.Ed.2d 548 (1993); Legal Additions LLC v. Kowalski, No. C-08-2754 EMC, 2009 WL 1226967, at *11 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 30, 2009). Whether to do so is a discretionary determination, and informing the exercise of discretion are “principles of judicial economy, convenience, avoidance of piecemeal litigation, and fairness to the litigants.” Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal. v. Burwell, No. 16-CV-03539-LB, 2017 WL 4551492, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 11, 2017); see also Martensen v. Koch, 942 F.Supp.2d 983, 998 (N.D. Cal. 2013), on reconsideration in part, No. C-12-05257 JSC, 2013 WL 4734000 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 3, 2013). On the one hand, A.H.’s habeas petition is properly before this Court, and it’s quite clear that any additional declaratory and injunctive relief he seeks is closely related to the factual and legal bases for his habeas petition. The same witnesses and evidence are relevant to both sets of claims. Resolution of each requires this Court to identify DHS and ORR’s policies and practices concerning children released to sponsors who are later rearrested, as well as to evaluate the statutory, constitutional, and contractual limits that circumscribe those policies and practices. Where a case is built around a “single wrong, common issues of proof, and similar witnesses,” pendent venue is more likely to be appropriate. Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal., 2017 WL 4551492, at *5. Further, the federal government and its lawyers are already required to appear in this district to defend against A.H.’s habeas petition, so the additional burden imposed on the government by requiring it to defend against AH.’s declaratory and injunctive relief claims, too, is minimal. In contrast, requiring A.H. to split his claims would result in duplicative proceedings concerning the same series of events regarding his arrest and custody, the same policies, and the same legal theories. And, as A.H. and those similarly situated are minors detained in federal custody, a rule that requires him to file two lawsuits about the same series of events in two separate forums seems unduly burdensome. On the other hand, additional defendants are implicated by A.H.’s claims for declaratory and injunctive relief, and pendent venue is generally invoked to decide additional claims between the same parties. See, e.g., Martensen, 942 F.Supp.2d at 998; Charles Alan Wright et al., Venue Issues Raised by Assertion of Multiple Claims, Including Exercise of “Pendent Venue,” 14D Fed. Prac. & Proc. Juris. § 3808 (4th ed. 2017). However, this court would not be the first to conclude that the concerns animating pendent venue can apply with equal force where closely related claims against additional defendants are at issue. See Pacer Glob. Logistics, Inc. v. Nat’l Passenger R.R. Corp., 272 F.Supp.2d 784, 789-91 (E.D. Wis. 2003) (applying the doctrine of pendent venue to hear claims against a defendant over which the court otherwise would not have had venue and noting that, “[i]f two or more claims arise out of the same set of facts, it is wasteful of judicial resources and unfair to one or more of the parties to require that the claims be litigated in separate judicial districts”). But see Gamboa v. USA Cycling, Inc., No. 2:12-CV-10051-ODW (MRWx), 2013 WL 1700951, at *4 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 18, 2013) (rejecting the notion of “pendent-party venue”). In a somewhat analogous procedural context, courts often conclude that they may hear claims against third-party defendants added to a case after it is filed, even though venue would not otherwise be proper over those third-party defendants. See, e.g., Gundle Lining Constr. Corp. v. Adams Cty. Asphalt, Inc., 85 F.3d 201, 209 (5th Cir. 1996) (“[Statutory venue limitations have no application to Rule 14 claims even if they would require the third-party action to be heard in another district had it been brought as an independent action.” (citation omitted)); Stronghold Sec. LLC v. Sectek, Inc., 582 F.Supp.2d 726, 728 (D. Md. 2008) (“Under the doctrine of ancillary venue, third party defendants do not have standing to challenge the venue of the primary action.”); Wright et al., supra, § 3808. Courts have allowed such claims to proceed even though a forum that does not otherwise satisfy venue requirements is as likely to be inconvenient for a third-party defendant as for an original defendant. Although it’s a close question, application of the doctrine of pendent venue is warranted here. A.H.’s habeas, declaratory, and injunctive relief claims challenge one course of conduct, carried out by various federal actors, and one part of his case is clearly before this Court; indeed, this Court may well be the only place he can bring his habeas petition. Moreover, the concerns that would normally attend application of pendent venue to claims against new defendants — namely, the inconvenience and expense imposed on the additional defendants — are attenuated where all the defendants objecting to venue are also federal officers. See Kings Cty. Econ. Cmty. Dev. Ass’n v. Hardin, 333 F.Supp. 1302, 1303 (N.D. Cal. 1971) (noting that Congress amended the federal venue statute to “make it easier to sue” the “head of a governmental department”); but see Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal., 2017 WL 4551492, at *5 (questioning whether an exercise of pendent venue would be appropriate in the context of claims against the government). The Department of Justice has appeared in this case to represent all the federal defendants for purposes of defending the lawfulness of A.H.’s custody. In light of the statutory framework governing his detention, this defense will involve the actions of multiple agencies, acting pursuant to several statutes. Judicial economy, convenience, and avoidance of piecemeal litigation all counsel in favor of evaluating the decisions of these actors at once. Having concluded that all of A.H.’s claims may proceed in this district, the Court must next determine whether to grant his motion for a preliminary injunction. And, because A.H. seeks relief on behalf of-a class of similarly situated minors in ORR custody, the Court must also decide whether it is appropriate to provisionally certify the plaintiffs’ proposed class for purposes of issuing a preliminary injunction. III. A.H. seeks, on behalf of the proposed class, a preliminary injunction to halt the practices giving rise to his unlawful arrest and Fifth Amendment procedural due process claims. He also seeks his own immediate release from ORR custody, on the theory that -his continued confinement violates his substantive due process rights and the Ffomconsent decree. Pis.’ Consol. Br. at 31 n.21. To obtain a preliminary injunction, A.H. “must establish that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips - in his favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest.” Winter v. Nat. Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20, 129 S.Ct. 365, 172 L.Ed.2d 249 (2008). He. may also be able to obtain preliminary injunctive relief if hechas raised “serious questions going to. the merits” and the balance of hardships “tips sharply towards” ‘granting an injunction, so long as he also shows that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm and that the injunction is in the public interest. Disney Enters., Inc. v. VidAngel, Inc., 869 F.3d 848, 856 (9th Cir. 2017) (quoting All. for the Wild Rockies v. Cottrell, 632 F.3d 1127, 1134-35 (9th Cir. 2011)). In light of the time-sensitive nature of the claims at issue in this case, the Court addresses in this order only the claim on which A.H. is most likely to succeed on the merits: his procedural due process claim. The remainder of the claims on which A.H. seeks preliminary injunctive relief will remain under submission, as will the aspects of defendants’ motions to dismiss not addressed by this order, A. When the federal government has previously deemed an unaccompanied minor suitable for placement in the community with a sponsor, and when federal agents later arrest and detain the minor based on allegations of gang affiliation, the government cannot simply ship the minor across the -country and place him in a secure detention facility for an indefinite period. Rather, due process requires the government to give the minor a prompt hearing before an immigration judge or other neutral decisionmaker, where the goverhment must set forth the basis for its decision to rearrest the minor, and where the minor and his sponsor may seek to rebut the government’s showing. As a threshold matter, it is clear, notwithstanding the government’s argument to the contrary, that minors like A.H. have procedural due process rights rooted in the Constitution. The arrests and detentions at issue raise questions regarding the extent to which a person is entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard before being removed from the custody of a sponsor in the United States — often a parent or family member — and sent across the country to a juvenile detention facility. The Due Process Clause imposes limits on what the government can do under these circumstances. See Hernandez v. Sessions, 872 F.3d 976, 981 (9th Cir. 2017) (“[T]he government’s discretion to incarcerate non-citizens is always constrained by the requirements of due process.”); id. at 993-94 (analyzing constitutional procedural due process requirements in the context of a class of noncitizens detained pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a)); F.L.B. v. Lynch, 180 F.Supp.3d 811, 817-21 (W.D. Wash. 2016) (concluding that “non-admitted” juvenile noncitizens “[cjlearly” had Fifth Amendment procedural due process rights); cf.Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86, 100-01, 23 S.Ct. 611, 47 L.Ed. 721 (1903); United States v. Raya-Vaca, 771 F.3d 1195, 1202-03 (9th Cir. 2014) (“The Supreme Court has categorically declared that once an individual has entered the United States, he is entitled to the protection of the Due Process Clause,” even if that person “has run some fifty yards into the United States.”). The government’s citation to Angov v. Lynch, 788 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2015), is of limited relevance. Angov addressed a question regarding the evidence an immigration judge can consider in adjudicating an asylum petition. Id. at 896-97. Angov presented himself at a port of entry and sought asylum, then asserted that the Due Process Clause imposed limits on how the government could conduct that asylum hearing. Id. at 898. The Ninth Circuit concluded .that Angov had no constitutional right to procedural due process in the asylum proceeding. Id. Here,- unlike in An-gov, the rights at issue do not conc,ern the procedures by .which the validity of an application, for admission will be assessed; they concern the arrest and detention of minors living under the ’ supervision of sponsors in the United States, pursuant to a prior decision by the federal government. The government next contends that, even assuming minors like A.H. have constitutional procedural due process rights, its existing procedures adequately protect their rights. But the government understates the nature of the liberty interest possessed by these minors, as well as the degree to which existing procedures protect against the erroneous depri