M.Y.M. v. Easterwood
Adriana M.Y.M. v. David Easterwood, in his official capacity as Field Office Director, St. Paul Field Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Todd M. Lyons, in his official capacity as Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Kristi Noem, in her official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- Jerry Blackwell
- 0:26-cv-00213
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 6
Counsel of record per CourtListener. Firm names are approximate.
In Adriana M.Y.M. v. Easterwood, Judge Blackwell granted in part a fee petition, awarding $9,321.99 in attorney's fees after the government failed to justify its detention conduct.
Immigrants who successfully challenge their detention in federal court and seek reimbursement of attorney's fees from the government under the Equal Access to Justice Act; immigration attorneys seeking fee awards in habeas cases involving rapid transfers and location uncertainty.
What happened
In Adriana M.Y.M. v. Easterwood (Civ. No. 26-213, District of Minnesota), Adriana M.Y.M. had previously won a court order requiring the government to return her to Minnesota after she was arrested there, quickly flown to a Texas detention facility, and the government's own tracking system failed to confirm her location when her attorney tried to find her. Having won that earlier case, she then asked the court to make the government pay her legal fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), a law that requires the government to pay a winning party's fees unless the government can show its position was reasonably justified or special circumstances make an award unfair. She requested $18,643.97 in costs and fees; the government opposed any award or asked for a reduction.
The court found that while the government had a reasonable legal argument — a federal appeals court had recently sided with the government's reading of the immigration detention statute — that alone was not enough. The EAJA requires the government to show both a reasonable legal basis and a reasonable factual basis for its conduct. The government offered no explanation for why it detained Adriana M.Y.M. in the specific way it did, why it transferred her out of state so quickly and in a manner that obscured her location, why her attorney could not track her down through official systems, or why there were delays in complying with the release order. Because the government bore the burden of proving reasonable justification and failed to explain the facts, the court found fees must be awarded.
Judge Blackwell granted the fee motion in part, awarding $9,321.99. The court approved the inflation-adjusted hourly rate of $261.12 — consistent with cost-of-living adjustments commonly granted in this circuit — but rejected the requested two-times multiplier that Adriana M.Y.M.'s counsel sought based on urgency and workload, finding those are not the type of special factors that justify an enhancement under the law. The additional briefing the parties filed on jurisdictional questions was found reasonable and not excessive, so no deduction was made for that work. The final award of $9,321.99 reflects 35.7 hours billed at the approved hourly rate.
The detailed version
- M.Y.M. v. Easterwood · No. 0:26-cv-00213
- Jerry W. Blackwell
- June 22, 2026
Background
This order concerns a petition for attorney's fees following a successful challenge to immigration detention. Adriana M.Y.M. was arrested in Minnesota on January 12, 2026, and transferred to a detention facility in Texas within hours. Her attorney attempted to locate her through the government's online tracking system and could not confirm her location before filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus (a court challenge to unlawful detention) in Minnesota that evening. Approximately ninety minutes after filing, the system reflected she was detained in Texas.
Respondents — federal immigration officials and agencies — moved to dismiss or transfer the case, arguing the Minnesota court lacked jurisdiction because Adriana M.Y.M. was held in Texas. After additional briefing ordered by the court, the habeas petition was granted, and the government was ordered to return Adriana M.Y.M. to Minnesota for release.
Adriana M.Y.M. then moved for attorney's fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412, requesting $18,643.97. Respondents opposed the award entirely or, alternatively, sought a reduction.
Legal Standard
The EAJA requires a court to award fees to a prevailing party unless the government demonstrates its position was "substantially justified" — meaning justified to a degree that could satisfy a reasonable person, with a reasonable basis in both law and fact — or that special circumstances make an award unjust. The government's "position" under the EAJA encompasses both its litigation conduct and the underlying agency conduct that led to the case. The burden of demonstrating substantial justification falls on the government.
Analysis
Basis in Law
Respondents argued their position was substantially justified because the statutory question — whether 8 U.S.C. § 1225 authorized detention of persons like Adriana M.Y.M. — was unsettled and had recently been resolved in their favor by another circuit court. After the EAJA motion was filed, the Eighth Circuit (the appeals court with authority over this district) agreed in Avila v. Bondi, 170 F.4th 1128 (8th Cir. 2026), that § 1225(b)(2) imposes mandatory detention for certain categories of individuals.
The court accepted that Respondents had a reasonable basis in law for their statutory interpretation. However, Avila addressed only the scope of statutory authority and not how that authority was exercised in any individual case — including the timing, location, or manner of detention.
Basis in Fact
A reasonable basis in law and a reasonable basis in fact are separate, independent requirements. Respondents provided no explanation on the factual side. They offered no rationale from the record for: - The decision to detain Adriana M.Y.M. in the specific manner used; - Transferring her out of state in a way that created uncertainty about her location at the time of filing; - Failures in the tracking and communication system that prevented her attorney from locating her; or - Delays in complying with the court's release order.
Because Respondents bore the burden of proof and failed to identify a factual basis in the record for the underlying agency conduct, the court found this failure dispositive. A showing that the statute authorizes detention does not establish that the particular exercise of that authority had a reasonable basis in fact. Accordingly, an EAJA award was required, and the court found no special circumstances making an award unjust.
Reasonableness of the Fee Amount
Jurisdictional briefing
Respondents argued that fees for additional jurisdictional briefing should be excluded because the case could have been transferred at the outset. The court rejected this, finding the additional briefing was a reasonable response to circumstances created by Respondents' rapid transfer and the resulting uncertainty about Adriana M.Y.M.'s location.
Hourly rate
The EAJA sets a statutory cap of $125 per hour but permits upward adjustments for cost-of-living increases or special factors. The court approved Petitioner's requested base rate of $261.12 per hour as a reasonable inflation adjustment from the 1996 statutory cap, consistent with rates commonly awarded in the Eighth Circuit.
Multiplier
Petitioner's counsel also sought to double the hourly rate based on urgency, volume of cases, and demands on counsel. The court denied the multiplier. Under Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552 (1988), those considerations are not the type of "special factor" justifying an enhancement beyond the cost-of-living-adjusted rate.
Hours billed
The submitted billing records reflected 35.7 hours at $261.12 per hour, for a total of $9,321.99. The court found the time reasonably expended with no indication of excessive, redundant, or unnecessary work.
Disposition
The Motion for EAJA Fees (Doc. No. 17) was granted in part. Petitioner Adriana M.Y.M. is awarded $9,321.99 in reasonable costs and attorney's fees under 28 U.S.C. § 2412.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.