Judge calls out Trump admin for 'violent criminal' rhetoric in ruling granting student's release from detention, skirts 5th Circuit ruling allowing ICE to indefinitely detain immigrants

A national justice successful Texas has ordered the Trump administration to merchandise a assemblage pupil calved successful Mexico successful a "public place" by the archetypal time of adjacent period – and not to detain him again unless the authorities tin amusement helium is unsafe oregon a formation hazard during a hearing.

The 18-page order comes amid a caller deluge of rulings blocking controversial efforts to reshape how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) classifies immigrants successful bid to detain them.

In the case, the petitioner, Jose Alberto Gomez-Gonzalez, won habeas corpus alleviation by convincing Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra, a Ronald Reagan appointee, that his "detention is unlawful" owed to violations of "his close to procedural owed process nether the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution."

Gomez-Gonzalez and his household "entered the state legally" erstwhile helium was 12 years old, the justice explains. He is presently 24 years aged and, anterior to being detained, was enrolled astatine Texas State University successful San Marcos – a medium-sized metropolis successful the broader Austin metro area.

The petitioner and his household archetypal legally entered utilizing borderline crossing cards, were detained anyway, asked for asylum, and past were subsequently granted humanitarian parole and placed into removal proceedings, the bid notes. Then, successful 2015, an migration justice administratively closed the family's deportation case.

Over the intervening years, Gomez-Gonzalez went to and graduated from precocious school, the bid says. He was acceptable to postgraduate from Texas State successful December 2025 and had a occupation successful authorities waiting.

Then came the Trump administration's caller directive.

"On August 14, 2025, astir 10 years aft his removal proceedings were administratively closed and implicit 10 years aft his parole expired without enactment by the government, Petitioner was re-detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers without announcement oregon warning," the bid reads.

The justice goes connected to picture however a seemingly innocuous postulation halt successful Concho County rapidly became an migration case:

That day, Petitioner had been driving to sojourn his parents earlier the assemblage semester started erstwhile helium was pulled implicit by instrumentality enforcement for driving a mates miles implicit the velocity limit. Although Petitioner provided the serviceman with a valid Texas Driver's License and insurance, the serviceman inquired into Petitioner's migration status. When Petitioner told the serviceman that helium was not a U.S. Citizen but was lawfully contiguous successful the country, the serviceman contacted ICE, detained Petitioner, and transported him to the region line, wherever an ICE cause was waiting.

"Since Petitioner's detention began connected August 14, 2025, helium has been held without the accidental for a enslaved hearing," the bid goes on. "Due to his continued detention, helium has been incapable to postgraduate college, was forced to breach the lease connected his apartment, has mislaid occupation opportunities, has mislaid his liberty, and has mislaid money."

On Jan. 30, attorneys for Gomez-Gonzalez filed his petition for the writ of habeas corpus, alleging law violations arsenic good arsenic violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

The lawsuit was primitively assigned to U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia. On Feb. 2, Garcia ordered the authorities to "show origin wrong 5 days of work arsenic to wherefore the petition should not beryllium granted."

Later that aforesaid day, the lawsuit was reassigned to Ezra.

Despite the raft of claims leveled against the government, the tribunal decided the case solely connected the merits of the Fifth Amendment claim.

This investigation diverts from a recent series of similar cases successful which detained immigrants person won habeas corpus alleviation by challenging the Trump administration's caller mentation of the INA.

Over the past 8 months, in hundreds of territory tribunal disputes, judges person considered the interplay and applicability of 2 chiseled INA statutes that outline the government's detention authority. Many judges person rephrased those statutes utilizing connection from a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling penned by Justice Samuel Alito.

In short, the authorities claims ICE has the authorization to taxable immigrants to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. §1225(b), which applies to "aliens seeking introduction into the United States."

Conversely, advocates for immigrants — arsenic good as most judges who person ruled on the substance — person alternatively turned to 8 U.S.C. §1226(a), which applies to "aliens already contiguous successful the United States."

Here, however, the tribunal rapidly took enactment of the government's usage of §1225(b) and recovered its statement "inapposite."

The justice besides manages to elide a recent determination by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which ruled "the government's presumption is correct" erstwhile it comes to deciding which INA statute ICE tin usage — vindicating the Trump administration's plans for indefinite detention nether §1225(b).

To perceive Ezra archer it, the government's statement – arsenic good arsenic the 5th Circuit's anterior ruling – lone has to bash with the statue connected its face.

Meanwhile, Gomez-Gonzalez is challenging "the constitutionality of the mandatory detention statute" arsenic applied to him successful presumption of the Fifth Amendment's owed process guarantee. This, the justice says, is simply a antithetic contented entirely.

"While it is existent arsenic a substance of statutory operation that §1225 permits mandatory detention, the question remains arsenic to what process is owed to radical detained nether that statute," the justice muses. "It is for the courts to determine whether the law protections afforded pursuant to a fixed statute are adequate. The specified beingness of immoderate protections nether a statute does not relieve the Court of its work to guarantee that those protections are so constitutionally sufficient."

In different words, portion astir judges person rejected the indefinite detention argumentation retired of manus nether the INA – by saying the authorities is speechmaking the statute incorrectly – Ezra says the INA allows for immoderate benignant of detention but offers a workaround.

That is, judges tin escaped detainees successful immoderate lawsuit if courts find law rights person been violated, according to the order.

And, successful the contiguous case, the tribunal recovered the authorities had, successful fact, violated the petitioner's rights by keeping him "in custody for astir six months, without the anticipation of merchandise connected bond."

"Here, determination is simply a precocious hazard of erroneous deprivation of Petitioner's liberty since helium is being detained without the accidental for an individualized enslaved hearing, depriving him of the quality to contention the reasonableness of his detention," the bid goes on. "Petitioner's detention without an accidental to situation his detention done an individualized appraisal violates his close to procedural owed process nether the Fifth Amendment."

The judge, successful a voluble aside, besides takes the authorities to task for its anti-immigrant rhetoric successful a footnote, astatine length:

The Administration, successful wide publicized statements, has said its enforcement efforts people convulsive criminals and the "worst of the worst." Clearly, the Petitioner successful this case, who entered the state arsenic a child, has nary known transgression history, and who is simply trying to decorativeness his assemblage grade is not the convulsive transgression oregon information to the assemblage to which the Administration refers.

In an earlier footnote, Ezra besides suggests the archetypal postulation halt was little than aboveboard – crediting an allegation made by the petitioner astir pretext – and notes the authorities does "not contest" this claim.