Case Name in Immigration Case - Unavailable

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE DIVISION
3:26-cv-401-KDB
ELDA JAMILETH COREA VILLANUEVA, )
)
Petitioner, )
)
vs. ) MEMORANDUM OF
) DECISION AND ORDER
KRISTEN SULLIVAN, et al., )
)
Respondents. )
_______________________________________ )
THIS MATTER is before the Court on an Unopposed Motion to Transfer Venue [Doc. 4]
filed by the United States.
On May 22, 2026, the Petitioner filed a Petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging
her immigration detention, threatened transfer, and threatened removal without meaningful
process or individualized custody review. [Doc. 1]. She seeks inter alia immediate injunctive
relief. [Id.].
On May 27, 2026, the Court ordered the United States to respond within seven days. [Doc.
3].
On June 1, 2026, the United States filed the instant Motion, asking that the Court transfer
the Petition to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia where venue lies.
[Doc. 4]. The United States argues that Petitioner was apprehended in North Carolina on May 21,
2026, and was transferred that same day to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia,
which lies in the Middle District of Georgia. The Petitioner remains at that facility to date, and
was detained there when the Petition was filed in this Court. [Id. at 3-4]. Counsel for the Petitioner
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does not oppose transfer of this action to the Middle District of Georgia. [Id. at 4].
Title 28, Section 2241 provides district courts with authority to grant relief “within their
respective jurisdictions.’” Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 434-35 (2004) (quoting 28 U.S.C.
§ 2241(a)). As a general matter, “a habeas petition seeking to challenge present physical custody
should be filed ‘in the district of confinement’ and ‘the proper respondent to a habeas petition is
‘the person who has custody over [the petitioner].’” Id. at 426 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2242); see
Kanai v. McHugh, 639 F.3d 251, 255 (4th Cir. 2011) (“When a petitioner is physically detained
… the ‘district of confinement’ necessarily is the location of both the habeas petitioner and the
immediate custodian”). The custodian is “the person with the ability to produce the prisoner’s body
before the habeas court. Padilla, 542 U.S. at 434. Because “[b]y definition, the immediate
custodian and the prisoner reside in the same district,” the Court generally requires petitioners to
name “some person who has the immediate custody of the party detained” rather than “the
Attorney General or some other remove supervisory official.” Suri v. Trump, 2025 WL 1806692
(4th Cir. July 1, 2025).
In the instant case, Petitioner was being restrained in the Middle District of Georgia at the
time the Petition was filed and, therefore, her immediate custodian was also located there.
Accordingly, venue lies in the Middle District of Georgia. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241, 2242; Padilla,
542 U.S. 426.
Title 28 U.S.C. § 1631 provides a court with authority to transfer a case for lack of
jurisdiction. Specifically, Section 1631 provides that “the court shall, if it is in the interest of
justice, transfer such action or appeal to any other such court ... in which the action or appeal could
have been brought at the time it was filed or noticed.” 28 U.S.C. § 1631; see also 28 U.S.C. §
1404(a), 1406(a). At the time that the instant Petition was filed, it was properly filed in the Middle
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District of Georgia. Pursuant to Sections 1631 and 1406, and in the interest of justice, the matter
will be transferred to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
For the foregoing reasons, this action is transferred to the Middle District of Georgia for
all further proceedings.
ORDER
IT IS, THEREFORE ORDERED that the United States’ Unopposed Motion to Transfer
Venue [Doc. 4] is GRANTED.
This action is TRANSFERRED to the United States District Court for the Middle District
of Georgia.
The Clerk is respectfully instructed to terminate this case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Signed: June 2, 2026
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