Judge Criticizes Trump Administration for Deceiving Asylum-Seeker

On Monday, an Oregon federal judge mandated that the Trump administration promptly release a 24-year-old transgender woman from Mexico, who had been detained outside a Portland courthouse. The judge ruled that federal agencies exceeded their authority and unjustifiably held the woman in custody.

During a Portland hearing, U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio criticized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for making “a series of procedural errors” and having “inconsistent legal positions,” which clearly violated the woman’s due process rights. This information was reported by The Oregonian.

This decision was in response to the woman’s habeas corpus petition, identified in court documents as “O-J-M,” following her apprehension on June 2.

“As stated on the record, Petitioner’s substantial interest in her liberty has been erroneously deprived by the Government without procedural due process through the series of Government actions,” Baggio wrote in the brief two-paragraph order. “For those reasons, the Court grants O-J-M-‘s Petition for Habeas Corpus on Count 5 and orders her immediate release, subject to the conditions that applied to her at the time of her arrest on June 2, 2025.”

During the hearing, Baggio railed against the Trump administration, accusing the government of ignoring thousands of pages of U.S. immigration law.

“The problem here is despite the legal authority the government unquestionably has, the government here failed to follow its own rules,” she said, according to the Oregon Capital Insider. “They arrested first and sought to justify later. Then they changed the alleged basis for the alleged detention. There is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this, and the government unquestionably went about the arrest and detention of O-J-M on June 2, 2025, in the wrong way.”

According to court filings, OJM fled Mexico because she was persecuted for her gender identity and targeted by cartel gangs. After being summoned and appearing in court on June 2, the government dismissed her pending application for asylum and placed her under arrest.

Baggio on Monday reportedly concluded that individuals with DHS had spoken with the immigration judge presiding over OJM’s case prior to it being dismissed. During OJM’s hearing, the immigration judge reportedly told her that if she agreed to the voluntary dismissal, DHS “won’t be seeking to remove you back to your home country.”

After initially pushing back, OJM, who apparently did not have a lawyer, agreed to the dismissal and was placed in detention.

Baggio said OJM was “tricked into agreeing” to her case’s dismissal, emphasizing that the immigration judge’s claim about the government not seeking her deportation “just wasn’t true,” as ICE agents were waiting outside the courtroom to detain her, the Oregonian reported.

A federal prosecutor reportedly told the judge she was not aware if the judge had been informed about DHS’ intentions prior to the hearing.

Baggio also reportedly took the government to task for repeatedly changing the stated justification for OJM’s detention and for allegedly attempting to convince her to sign documents that would waive her right to challenge that detention when her lawyers were not present, calling the case a “very concerning” example of due process violations.

OJM’s lawyer, Jordan Cunnings, spoke to Capital Insider following Monday’s hearing.

“As a transgender woman being held by a government that denies the existence of transgender people, she’s been in solitary for, I believe, over 40 days. So we’re extremely relieved,” she said. “She suffered horrific sexual violence in Mexico. That’s why she fled and sought asylum here. And so her arrest was really re-traumatizing for her, having been a victim of assault, and then having to be held in solitary, that’s obviously no joke.”