ICE re-arrests immigrants after courts order their release

Immigrants who successfully challenge their detention in federal court are being arrested again by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sometimes almost immediately after securing release. The Guardian identified at least 20 such cases nationwide over the past year through court records, interviews with attorneys and media reports.

The cases come amid a surge in legal challenges to immigration detention. Research by ProPublica found that immigrants had filed more than 91,000 habeas corpus petitions. The number submitted since January 25 exceeded the combined total during the previous three presidential administrations, including Donald Trump’s first term. These petitions ask federal courts to review whether the government can lawfully keep someone in custody while their underlying case continues.

Bridget Pranzatelli, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, said rapid re-detention had increased sharply and often violated federal court orders. Her client Akram Mahmoud Omar, a 77-year-old Palestinian man, was arrested again within 10 days of his release following a successful petition, the Intercept first reported. Omar had suffered a heart attack while held at Camp 57, an ICE facility inside Louisiana’s state prison in Angola.

In Minnesota, seven immigrants were detained again before leaving the Whipple federal building detention facility near Minneapolis, according to reporting first published by MPR. Daniel Suitor, who represents two of the men, questioned whether transferring someone directly into the custody of officers fulfilled an order for release.

Judges have challenged the government’s conduct. In October, the 10th US circuit court of appeals in Colorado rejected an attempt to dismiss a habeas petition, citing a government pattern of re-detaining people granted relief. A Louisiana federal judge held a senior immigration official in contempt and demanded the release of Ibrahim Mohammed after ICE arrested him again three times, the Banner first reported. Judges in Pennsylvania and Minnesota have also imposed or threatened contempt findings.

Some attorneys connect the renewed arrests to the administration’s expanding use of deportations to third countries. Susanna Booth, a senior attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, linked the trend to agreements reached primarily with African nations over the previous four months. Such removals affect people whose home countries will not accept them or who have protection against being sent there.

More than 25,000 non-citizens have been deported to countries other than their own, despite potential exposure to torture or persecution. Many are confined in prisons or secured hotels and pressured to return home, practices human rights experts say violate the Convention Against Torture. Booth said two clients were threatened with removal to African countries where they had no ties, then freed after second habeas filings.

Lawyers are seeking release orders requiring advance notice before another removal attempt. Booth’s practice also prepares second petitions in advance of transfers between states. In September, an appeals court required adequate notice and an opportunity to challenge third-country deportations. The supreme court’s six conservative justices subsequently granted an emergency stay without explanation, allowing rapid removals to continue.

Some immigrants protected against removal to their home countries have become eligible for asylum after a court overturned a Biden-era restriction. Louisiana attorney Joseph Giardina said two Egyptian clients received asylum after being re-detained and threatened with deportation. Other immigrants remain detained without apparent removal plans. Reporting by Bolts, the Lens and the Texas Tribune found that habeas cases can take months, particularly in Louisiana and Texas, while attorneys warn that the prospect of another arrest adds to families’ distress.