PORTLAND, Ore. — A judge has ordered the release of an asylum seeker from Mexico who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Portland courthouse last month and has been held for weeks at an ICE detention facility in Tacoma. Her attorneys filed a habeas petition on her behalf, successfully arguing at a hearing Monday afternoon that her right to due process had been violated.
"The government was basically arguing that they can detain anyone at any time for any reason, and that their justification for doing so can shift throughout the course of a case without any consequences," said attorney Jordan Cunnings, legal director at Innovation Law Lab. "We're really grateful that the judge recognized that that violates due process."
The 24-year-old asylum seeker, referred to by the pseudonym "O-J-M," fled cartel violence in Mexico and was living the Portland area. She attended an asylum hearing at the Portland courthouse on June 2.
According to Innovation Law Lab, ICE lawyers at the hearing sought to dismiss her case, then arrested her when she left the courtroom. She did not oppose the dismissal because she was led to believe by the judge that it would mean the government had decided not to pursue deportation.
"She was deceived into accepting dismissal of her case before the Portland Immigration Court so that masked agents could arrest her immediately and detain her in Tacoma," Cunnings said.
It was the first case of an ICE courthouse detention in Portland, although there have been multiple others since then, part of a nationwide wave of such arrests under the second Trump administration.
At the time of O-J-M's arrest, Cunnings said she had properly filed her asylum application, but that ICE was trying to put her through a rapid deportation process. A few days later, the Department of Homeland Security said she was not at risk of immediate deportation.
However, she has been held at the ICE facility in Tacoma since her arrest, and Cunnings said on Monday that she has been in solitary confinement the entire time because she's a transgender woman. She would otherwise be held with men under an executive order from President Donald Trump.
"The administration is trying to maintain a reign of illegality, and judges are stepping in and affirming that we are all entitled to due process — all members of the Oregon community, including immigrants — so O-J-M was the first person that we know of who was arrested in this new unlawful campaign," Cunnings said. "And she's, sadly for her, the last one to be released. But we're so happy that she finally has been released. This is the fifth of the five cases that we've brought, and they're all now going to be home with their families."
Cunnings said that Innovation Law Lab will be appealing the dismissal of O-J-M's original removal proceedings to the Board of Immigration Appeals, perhaps allowing her to safely continue to pursue asylum. In the meantime, she is out of detention and has direct access to legal counsel.
This is a developing story and may be updated with more details as they emerge.