US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is re-arresting immigrants after federal judges order them released on habeas corpus petitions, and the pattern is showing up across multiple states. In at least 20 cases nationwide over the past year, people who won release in court were taken back into custody, sometimes almost immediately.
The surge matters now because immigrants have filed more than 91,000 habeas petitions as they challenge detention, and more petitions have been filed since 25 January than during the past three presidential administrations, including Trump's first term, combined. A habeas petition asks a federal court to decide whether the government has the right to keep someone locked up while the main immigration case moves forward, and the sharp rise in filings has given judges a growing stream of cases to sort through.
For Akram Mahmoud Omar, the process moved quickly and then snapped back. He was arrested again by ICE within 10 days of being released after winning a habeas petition. Bridget Pranzatelli said there has been a very sharp increase in people who are freed on habeas petitions only to be re-detained very rapidly, often in violation of the federal court's order.
In Minnesota, seven immigrants were re-detained before they even made it out of the Whipple federal building on the outskirts of Minneapolis. Daniel Suitor said he did not think being taken out of a building and directly into the arms of four or more officers complies with the court's order. That detail captures the practical problem at the center of the fight: a release order can exist on paper while ICE is already waiting outside the door.
Court records show judges are starting to treat the pattern as more than a paperwork dispute. In October, the 10th US circuit court of appeals in Colorado rejected the government's bid to dismiss a habeas petition on the ground that it had the power to re-detain the petitioner, and said the government had previously shown a pattern of re-detaining non-citizens who had been granted habeas relief. In Louisiana, a federal judge held a senior federal immigration official in contempt and ordered Ibrahim Mohammed released after he was re-arrested three times by ICE. Judges in Pennsylvania and Minnesota have also held immigration authorities in contempt or threatened to do so.
The legal fight is widening as the detention system itself changes. Susanna Booth said the re-detentions are tied to the expansion of third country agreements with primarily African nations over the past four months, while the Trump administration has increasingly sent immigrants who cannot be removed to their home countries to another country entirely. The unanswered question is whether repeated contempt findings and sharper appellate warnings will be enough to force ICE to stop treating court-ordered release as a temporary pause.
