“a federal prisoner challenging the denial of a § 2241 petition, he need not obtain a certificate of appealability”
How later courts described this case
- “a federal prisoner challenging the denial of a § 2241 petition, he need not obtain a certificate of appealability”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
LUDWIG CRISS ZELAYA ROMERO, )
)
Petitioner, )
)
v. ) Civil Action No. 3:24-270
) Judge Nora Barry Fischer
DIRECTOR BOP COLETTE PETERS, ) Magistrate Judge Christopher B. Brown
WARDEN MICHAEL UNDERWOOD, )
)
Respondents. )
MEMORANDUM ORDER
AND NOW, this 18th day of March, 2026, upon consideration of the Report and
Recommendation filed by United States Magistrate Christopher B. Brown on July 21, 2025,
(Docket No. 21), recommending that the § 2241 habeas petition filed by Petitioner Ludwig Criss
Zelaya Romero be dismissed with prejudice because he is ineligible for earned time credits due to
a final order of removal from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that the Petitioner’s
appeal to the District Judge of the Magistrate Judge’s Order denying his motion seeking a subpoena
duces tecum be denied, as moot, and directed that objections were due within 14 days such that
objections for non-ECF users were due by August 5, 2025, the Petitioner’s Objections dated
August 3, 2025, (Docket No. 22), and his Supplement dated September 17, 2025, (Docket No. 23),
this matter having been recently reassigned to the undersigned for prompt disposition, and upon
independent review of the record and de novo consideration of the Magistrate Judge’s July 21,
2025 Report and Recommendation, (Docket No. 21),
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Petitioner’s Objections [22], as Supplemented [23] are
OVERRULED. In so holding, the Court notes that Petitioner is not entitled to have earned time
credits applied to his release computation as he is a non-citizen subject to a Notice and Order of
Expedited Removal issued by an immigration officer and approved by a supervisor on November
5, 2024. (See Docket No. 12-3 at 2). Therefore, he is ineligible for earned time credits and his §
2241 petition must be denied for the reasons set forth by the Magistrate Judge. See e.g., Pisman v.
Warden Allenwood FCI Low, No. 23-2048, 2023 WL 6618238, at *1 (3d Cir. Oct. 11, 2023)
(“Contrary to his argument, Pisman, a foreign citizen assigned a ‘deportable alien’ public safety
factor on whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a detainer, is ineligible to use earned
time credits for immediate release to residential re-entry programs or home confinement, pursuant
to BOP regulations.”); Said v. Underwood, No. 3:23-CV-00164, 2025 WL 90145, at *2 (W.D. Pa.
Jan. 14, 2025) (Hornak, J.) (“the Court concludes that Petitioner is ineligible to apply earned time
credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(E) and will deny the Petition on that basis” as he is subject
to a final order of removal); Montano v. Peters et al., Civ. A. No. 3:24-cv-143-NBF-KAP, Docket
No. 8 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 30, 2025) (Fischer, J.) (denying § 2241 petition of inmate challenging
computation of sentence for no earned time credits as he was non-citizen paroled into the United
States for drug trafficking prosecution and subject to final order of removal); Obi v. Underwood,
No. 3:23-CV-274, 2025 WL 3684933, at *2 (W.D. Pa. Dec. 18, 2025) (Haines, J.) (overruling
petitioner’s objections that an order for expedited removal does not constitute an order of removal
under the FSA);
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the July 21, 2025 Report and Recommendation [21] is
ADOPTED as the Opinion of the Court;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Petition [4], as Supplemented [7], [10] is
DISMISSED, with prejudice;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Petitioner’s Notice of Appeal [18] challenging the Order
of the Magistrate Judge denying his motion seeking a subpoena duces tecum is DENIED, as moot;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that no certificate of appealability shall issue, see Goodloe
v. Warden Lewisburg USP, 2025 WL 342189, *1, n.1 (3d Cir. 2025) (citing Reese v. Warden Phila.
FDC, 904 F.3d 244, 246 (3d Cir. 2018) (“a federal prisoner challenging the denial of a § 2241
petition, he need not obtain a certificate of appealability”); and,
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that an appropriate Judgment follows.
s/Nora Barry Fischer
Nora Barry Fischer, Senior U.S. District Judge
cc/ecf: Magistrate Judge Christopher B. Brown
cc: LUDWIG CRISS ZELAYA ROMERO, Reg. No. 75942-054
LORETTO
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 1000
CRESSON, PA 16630 (via first class mail)