Particle.news
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
21h ago

Judge Frees Transgender Mexican Asylum Seeker from ICE Custody

The ruling follows a judge’s finding that ICE failed to notify attorneys of their client’s location, raising questions about the scope of executive power in immigration enforcement.

Image
Image
Image
Odalis Jhonatan Martinez-Velasquez

Overview

  • Judge Amy Baggio, a Biden appointee, ordered the release after finding that ICE deprived the asylum seeker of due process by failing to notify attorneys and justify her transfer.
  • Martinez-Velasquez, a 24-year-old transgender Mexican national who reported that drug cartels threatened to kill her and abducted and raped her, entered the United States in September 2023 to seek asylum.
  • She was detained for more than 40 days at ICE’s all-male Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma under a Trump executive order separating detainees by biological sex.
  • The Department of Homeland Security condemned the decision as a judicial overreach promoting “gender ideology fanaticism” and argued that only immigration judges have the authority to order detention releases.
  • Legal advocates say the ruling underscores gaps in protections for transgender detainees and fuels broader debates over judicial oversight and executive authority in immigration enforcement.