A federal judge in Oregon barred the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from removing an asylum seeker from the state after she was arrested by immigration officers Monday outside a Portland courtroom.
The woman, identified as “O-J-M” in court documents, is from Mexico and has been living in Vancouver, Washington.
The order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio Tuesday, also states that if ICE has removed O-J-M they must tell the judge “within two hours of being served” and must detail the “exact date and time” O-J-M “left the District of Oregon and the reason why” the Department of Homeland Security “believed that such a move was immediately necessary.”
Attorneys for O-J-M filed a habeas petition on Monday that sought to force ICE to bring her before a federal judge in Oregon. They’ve told OPB they don’t know where immigration officials are holding her.
The state does not have long-term immigration detention facilities due to its sanctuary laws that prohibit local jails from contracting with federal immigration authorities. Apart from short-term holding cells at the Portland ICE office, the closest immigration detention center is in Tacoma, Washington.
O-J-M was arrested by ICE Monday outside immigration court in downtown Portland after she was ordered to appear for a hearing. Instead of proceeding with her asylum application before an immigration judge in court, attorneys for ICE moved to dismiss O-J-M’s case entirely. That effectively vacated her asylum case and the legal protections that come with it.
In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said most of the people who entered the country during the past two years are subject to expedited removals. The agency noted arrests at immigration court are indeed a shift from the previous administration’s policies.
“ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,” the agency stated. “If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
O-J-M sought asylum in the United States after being sexually assaulted by several members of a Mexican drug cartel.
“They threatened to kill her because O-J-M is a transgender woman,” her habeas petition states. “Fearing for her life, she fled and sought asylum in the United States in September 2023.”
O-J-M sought asylum at the Calexico, California port of entry, where she was arrested, detained and released. Since then, she has attended ICE check-ins and filed her formal asylum claim in February, according to her petition. In April, immigration officials began removal proceedings against O-J-M.
