Overview

• Rigoberto Hernandez Hernandez, 23, was released Sept. 23 after nearly four weeks at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
• Government attorneys notified the court they were dropping the removal case, and his habeas corpus petition is expected to be withdrawn as moot.
• Homeland Security Assistant Chief Counsel Taylor Gardner said the dismissal was an exercise of prosecutorial discretion and that new proceedings remain possible.
• Hernandez was arrested Aug. 27 during Border Patrol identity checks at the Bear Gulch fire zone, which his attorneys say violated non-enforcement norms at disaster-response sites.
• Hernandez has lived in the U.S. since age 4 and has a U-visa application pending since 2018, and his arrest drew national condemnation with about 50 members of Congress seeking answers.