Friday, April 24, 2026

Habeas Petition Wheeled to Judge Cronan Withdrawn and Refiled 2 Minutes Later for Another Judge

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 22 –  A man from Mexico was detained by ICE on April 21 and on April 22 at 12:14 pm a Walker Street-based lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition in his name in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where Inner City Press found it. It was Estrada Santos v. Genalo, et al., 1:26-cv-3313.
  
  At 12:25 pm, the case was assigned to District Judge John P. Cronan.  Notable, Judge Cronan recently denied the habeas petition of a New York City Council staff member from Venezuela, as covered in the Press.

  At 12:35 pm the Walker Street-based lawyer filed a "Notice of Voluntary Dismissal," withdrawing the petition.

  At 12:39 pm - four minutes later - the same lawyer filed a second habeas corpus petition for the same client.

This case is Estrada Santos v. Genalo, et al., 1:26-cv-3316 (Unassigned)

This may be a pattern.

Back on April 10 one man named Linzhong Huang was detained by ICE on April 10 in 26 Federal Plaza.

Two law firms filed habeas corpus petitions later than day in SDNY, where Inner City Press found both.   

At 2:32 pm on April 10, the Law Office of Ng & Wasserman of 27 East Broadway filed a habeas petition, Linzhong Hwang v. Almodovar, et al., which got assigned to Judge Katherine Polk Failla.  

At 3:39 pm, the Law Office of Ling Li, PC of Main Street, [Flushing], Queens filed a habeas petition, Linzhong Huang v. Genalo, et al., which got assigned to Judge Vernon S. Broderick, who ordered "the Petitioner shall not be removed from US unless and until the Court orders otherwise."   

It seems this is the same man. Did both firms speak with Linzhong Huang? Did either? 

 The cases are Linzhong Hwang v. Almodovar, et al., 1:26-cv-2972 (Failla) and Linzhong Hwang v. Genalo, et al., 1:26-cv-2975 (Broderick)

On April 22, this second-filed petition was granted, with petitioner to be released by April 23 at 5 pm.


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