Chalco-Beltran v. Francis
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:25-cv-09208
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Carlos Andres Chalco-Beltran v. Francis, Judge Engelmayer ordered a $5 fee or an application to proceed without prepaying fees.
Carlos Andres Chalco-Beltran and his next friend, Eva Magdalena Chalco Chango, who must either pay the filing fee or submit the required application within 30 days for the petition to proceed.
What happened
In Carlos Andres Chalco-Beltran v. Francis, Eva Magdalena Chalco Chango filed a petition for Carlos Andres Chalco-Beltran as his next friend, asking for a court order concerning his detention under a federal detention law.
The petition was filed without the required $5 filing fee or an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court gave the next friend 30 days from November 6, 2025, to pay the fee or submit the completed application.
Judge Engelmayer also denied permission to appeal this order without prepaying the appeal fee, and directed the next friend to provide a different mailing address if the address listed by the Clerk was incorrect. The order did not decide the petition’s underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Chalco-Beltran v. Francis · No. 1:25-cv-09208
- Paul Engelmayer
- Nov. 6, 2025
Background
Eva Magdalena Chalco Chango, acting as Carlos Andres Chalco-Beltran’s “next friend”—a person who files on behalf of someone else—submitted a petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. The opinion does not describe the petition’s underlying claims or the respondents’ position.
The petition was submitted without the $5 filing fee and without an application to proceed without prepaying fees. The court explained that a next friend must provide one of those two items to proceed with a habeas petition in that court.
Court’s order
The court ordered Chalco-Beltran’s next friend, Eva Magdalena Chalco Chango, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $5 filing fee or to complete and submit the attached application to proceed without prepaying fees. The order provided instructions for paying by mail or in person and stated that any application should include docket number 25-CV-9208 (PAE).
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also encouraged the next friend to consent to receiving documents electronically. It stated that if the mailing address listed for her from another petition was different from her current address, she must provide the court with the correct address.
Effect of the order
This order addressed filing requirements and did not grant or deny the underlying habeas petition. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer left the petition’s underlying claims undecided in this order.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.