Overview
- U.S. District Judge Tiffany Cartwright ruled ICE lacked a lawful basis to keep Mong Tuyen Thi “Melissa” Tran confined and ordered immediate release, citing false or misleading agency claims and no effort to secure travel documents.
- Tran spent 154 days in custody after a May 12 check-in, moving from Baltimore through facilities in Louisiana and Arizona to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
- She was released Sunday afternoon, took an overnight flight, and reunited with her husband and four children in Maryland early Monday.
- The standing 2003 deportation order, stemming from forgery and larceny convictions, still governs her case as her lawyers prepare to seek reopening in immigration court this week.
- A longtime Hagerstown resident and small-business owner, Tran received broad community support during her detention as her case drew attention to intensified deportation enforcement that has swept up long-settled residents with older convictions.