Judge orders ICE to release Minneapolis man after 50 days of unlawful detention | US immigration

A federal judge ruled Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release a Minneapolis man and asylum seeker who was unlawfully detained for 50 days.

The man, identified in court records as Elvis Joel TE, was arrested Jan. 22 at the height of ICE’s aggressive raids in Minneapolis. The case sparked widespread outrage when Elvis TE was detained on his way home from the store with his two-year-old daughter, and ICE quickly flew them both to Texas despite a court order banning their transfer outside Minnesota.

The younger child was returned to his mother the next day upon the judge’s decision, but the father, who is from Ecuador, remained in custody despite having a pending asylum case.

US judge Katherine Menendez ruled on Friday that there was no basis for keeping Elvis TE in custody, saying that Elvis TE was “not properly detained” according to the laws stated by the government.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Elvis TE shortly after he crossed the border near Brownsville, Texas, in May 2024, at which point he sought asylum, the judge wrote. He was later granted humanitarian parole, meaning he was allowed to stay in the U.S. while his asylum application progressed through the process.

The government argued that he should remain detained until his case was adjudicated, but the judge rejected those arguments, stating that he was not subject to mandatory detention and that agents did not have a warrant to detain him in the first place.

Lawyers said the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of a toddler were particularly cruel and unfair.

As the father and daughter were arriving home on the afternoon of Jan. 22, agents entered their backyard and driveway without permission and broke the father’s car window while the girl was inside, according to one of her attorneys.

The lawyer said that the girl’s mother was at the door of the house and called out to her partner who was trying to bring her child to her. As ICE agents approached the mother, the mother entered and officers allegedly refused to allow Elvis TE “to take his daughter to her mother or other family members who were waiting in fear at the home.”

The family’s lawyer said the father and the young child were then placed in an internal combustion engine without a car seat.

At the time, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said the arrest sparked protests from community members who gathered outside, prompting officers to initiate “crowd control measures.” Minnesota Stars Tribune it was revealed at the time that the agents were using chemical irritants and flash bang devices.

Immediately after the arrest, lawyers filed an urgent petition requesting their release. Menendez, a Minnesota-based federal judge, issued an order that evening barring the government from taking them out of the state; This may hinder the family’s ability to challenge their detention. The judge also ordered the girl’s immediate release due to the “risk of irreparable harm” and wrote of the toddler: “Needless to say, she has no criminal history.”

But about 20 minutes after the judge ruled they could not be removed, the government put the two on a plane to Texas, lawyers said. The government returned the two to Minnesota the next day but kept the father in custody.

On Friday, the judge ordered his release by Sunday at the latest.

“Our client was separated from his family and unlawfully detained for 50 days, which left him completely gutted,” Chelsea Walcker, one of Elvis TE’s attorneys, said by phone shortly after the verdict.

“The abuse of government authority was evident at every stage of the case,” said Walcker, chief legal officer of Groundwork Legal, a Minnesota-based public interest law firm. “They broke into her car with her two-year-old daughter inside. They arrested her without a warrant. They put her on a plane in violation of a court order. Then they detained her for months without any legal basis, separated from her partner and daughter.”

Walcker said the damage suffered by the family was severe. He noted that the girl was first separated from her mother during the chaotic arrest. When the judge ordered her released but not her father, her lawyers had to temporarily gain custody of her to bring her home.

“It was terrible. He’s two years old. He didn’t understand what was happening. He had to be taken from his father’s arms so they could give him back to his mother,” Walcker said. “This will be etched in him for the rest of his life. This is something no child should ever experience.”

Spokespeople for DHS and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to questions. At the time of Elvis TE’s arrest, a DHS spokesperson described him as an “illegal immigrant,” said he was “driving erratically” and claimed the girl’s mother refused to pick her up.

Walcker thanked the judge for recognizing that the detention was unlawful, but noted: “Many other families never get that chance.”

Unlike Elvis TE, others arrested by ICE in Minnesota transferred out of state This makes it significantly harder for them to fight their case before they can secure representation or file a petition challenging their detention, Walcker said.

His arrest came the same week that ICE detained five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, and photos of the boy being detained sparked global outrage. He and his father were sent to Texas, then released after advocacy from a congressman.

“Families are being taken off the streets, disappearing from their workplaces and their communities,” Walcker said. “Lives are being torn apart and the government must be held accountable.”