govinfo:USCOURTS-njd-1_26-cv-05914-0

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY 
CAMDEN VICINAGE 
 
ESTALIN JOSELITO BENAVIDES 
NARVAEZ. 
 
Petitioner, 
 
v. 
 
TODD BLANCHE, et al., 
 
Respondents. 
 
 
 
 
 
No. 26cv5914 (RMB) 
 
MEMORANDUM ORDER 
 
 
BUMB, Chief District Judge. 
 
This matter comes before the Court upon Petitioner Estalin Joselito Benavides 
Narvaez’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, challenging his 
mandatory detention by immigration authorities as unlawful. Dkt. No. 1 (“Petition”). 
For the reasons explained below, the Court will transfer this matter to cure want of 
jurisdiction. 
I. BACKGROUND 
The parties agree that Petitioner was transferred from Newark, New Jersey to 
Folkston D. Ray Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia on May 23, 2026, before the 
Petition was filed in the District of New Jersey. Dkt. No. 6 (“Answer”); Dkt. No. 6 -
4, Ex. D (“D. Ray James Processing Center Arrivals”); Dkt. No. 7 (“Mot. to Transfer 
Venue”) ¶ 3. Thus, Petitioner is confined within the Southern District of Georgia. Id. 
¶ 7. PageID: <pageID>
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For habeas petitions that challenge present physical confinement, jurisdiction 
lies in the district of confinement. Rumsfeld v. Padilla , 542 U.S. 426, 443 (2004). At 
the time the Petition was filed, Petitioner was confined in the Southern District of 
Georgia. Mot. to Transfer ¶ 7. This Court, therefore, lacks jurisdiction over the 
Petition. 
II. TRANSFER TO CURE WANT OF JURISDICTION
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631, when a court lacks jurisdiction over a civil action
and it is in the interest of justice, the court: 
shall … transfer such action to any other such court … in which the 
action … could have been brought at the time it was filed … and the 
action .. shall proceed as if it had been filed in … the court to which it is 
transferred on the date upon which it was actually filed in … the court 
from which it is transferred. 
A
t all relevant times, Petitioner’s district of confinement is in the Southern District of 
Georgia, and Petitioner challenges his detention as unlawful. Therefore, it is in the 
interest of justice to transfer this matter to the district having jurisdiction over the 
Petition. 
III. CONCLUSION
For the reasons explained above,
IT IS, on this 10th day of June 2026,
ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall TRANSFER this matter to the United
States District Court , Southern District of Georgia pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631 to 
cure want of jurisdiction; and it is further PageID: <pageID>
3 
 
ORDERED that the Clerk shall CLOSE this matter. 
 s/Renée Marie Bumb 
 RENÉE MARIE BUMB 
 Chief United States District Judge PageID: <pageID>

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