Federal Judge Orders Release of Mexican Asylum Seeker Unlawfully Detained by ICE in Portland

The immediate release of a 24-year-old Mexican, arrested by masked ICE agents outside a Portland courtroom and placed in a detention center, has been ordered by a federal judge.

Identified as Y-Z-L-H, the man has been detained in an overcrowded Tacoma detention center for the last 27 days, where he has been forced to sleep on the floor, according to his attorney.

Judge Michael H. Simon found the detention of Y-Z-L-H was a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Judge Orders Government to Refrain from Rearresting the Man Without Lawful Reason

He found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had no justification in their unlawful detention of Y-Z-L-H and ordered the government to refrain from rearresting the Mexican without a lawful reason.

In earlier testimony, the government stated it had told Y-Z-L-H in a notice on April 11 that his temporary status would be terminated on April 18. However, the government later admitted that the temporary status he was granted in July 2023 would only expire on July 19, 2025.

In a sworn statement, Y-Z-L-H said he entered the U.S. in July 2023, fleeing from a violent Mexican drug cartel. Later that month, he was granted permission to remain in the country temporarily, and applied for asylum a year ago.

When he left the Portland courtroom after his asylum application hearing on June 5, he was arrested by six masked ICE agents. He was then driven to another location where he was fingerprinted and placed in ankle irons before being transferred to Washington state.

His attorney, Tess Hellgren, told the court that Y-Z-L-H had no criminal record during his two years in the U.S. and that one day before his arrest, he was granted a five-year extension of his work authorization until July 2023.