A Mexican transgender migrant pursuing asylum in the United States, after reportedly being kidnapped and assaulted by cartel members, has been ordered to be released from a male-only Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center by a federal judge on the basis of due process rights.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio, appointed by President Joe Biden, mandated the release of the migrant from the Northwest ICE Processing Center located in Tacoma, Washington, stating that the asylum seeker had their liberty restricted without adequate procedural protections.
The migrant, a 24-year-old transgender woman referred to as “O-J-M” in court documents, was apprehended outside a Portland courtroom last month and subsequently moved to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
Judge Amy Margaret Baggio speaks during her Senate judiciary nomination hearing. Baggio ordered ICE to release a transgender asylum seeker who was held for over 40 days in a men’s facility after being arrested outside a Portland courtroom. (U.S. Senate)
but he had not been granted access to her since her transfer.
O-J-M was arrested outside a Portland courtroom last month and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They threatened to kill her because O-J-M is a transgender woman,” her habeas petition states, per OPB. “Fearing for her life, she fled and sought asylum in the United States in September 2023.”
Manning told Willamette Weekly that his client had not committed a crime while in the U.S. O-J-M has regularly checked in at ICE offices as instructed.
Oregon sanctuary laws prevent it from having long-term immigration detention facilities, and — aside from temporary holding cells at the Portland ICE office — the nearest immigration detention center is the Tacoma facility.
