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A transgender asylum-seeker from Mexico was freed from ICE detention after a judge ruled that her rights had been violated.
A federal judge ruled that the government violated her rights.
A 24-year-old transgender woman from Mexico who was arrested by federal immigration agents outside a Portland, Oregon courtroom last month has been released from detention after a federal judge ruled that her arrest violated her constitutional right to due process.
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U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio on Monday concluded that O-J-M-, as she is identified in court records, had been deprived of her liberty. The court granted her habeas corpus petition, meaning the judge agreed with her request to be released, and ordered her immediate freedom under the same conditions she faced when arrested on June 2.
“The court finds that Petitioner’s substantial interest in her liberty has been erroneously deprived by the Government without procedural due process through the series of Government actions,” Baggio wrote. The Associated Press reports that O-J-M- was released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, where she had been held for over 40 days. She is now back home with her family, according to Innovation Law Lab, the nonprofit legal group representing her.
Related: ICE detained a trans migrant at her asylum hearing. Her lawyers still can't contact her
“We are grateful the court recognized that OJM deserves to be free while her case proceeds,” Innovation Law Lab told the AP. “No one should be punished for seeking safety.”
O-J-M- arrived in the U.S. in September 2023, two years after she said cartel members raped her because of her gender identity. She followed all legal requirements, including regular ICE check-ins, despite government paperwork errors that confused her hearing schedule, her lawyers argued.
Her arrest came moments after a judge at Portland’s immigration court granted the government’s request to dismiss her pending removal proceedings. As she exited, ICE agents arrested her in the courthouse lobby, Portland ABC affiliate KATU reported, calling it Portland’s first known courthouse arrest.
Related: Trans and nonbinary migrants file complaint over treatment at ICE detention facility
Innovation Law Lab said ICE “manipulated the removal hearing to get her case dismissed and cancel her asylum application,” accusing the agency of acting not because O-J-M- was a flight risk but due to its procedural errors.
“This unethical behavior goes against the values we hold as Oregonians, ensuring that everyone is welcomed and included in our state,” Jordan Cunnings, O-J-M’s attorney, said at the time.
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