ICE suffers triple legal blow within hours

A Looming Threat From Judge Tunheim In Minnesota

On Thursday, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen was questioned over the missing property of six people who were held in ICE custody. He said that, in its attempt to work under tight deadlines, ICE had to make difficult choices, deciding to prioritize the release of some detainees on time with or without their property.

“Nobody has been wilfully disobedient. There have been mistakes that have been made, but that is a far, far cry from contempt of court,” Rosen said, as reported by CBS News.

But the agency could still face contempt of court if it does not return missing property to certain detainees already released.

On Friday, Judge John Tunheim issued a court order requiring the agency to facilitate the return of the detainees’ property—including their work authorization cards, drivers’ licenses, bank cards, and IDs—by 2 p.m. on April 6, when a court hearing is scheduled.

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If the agency does not meet the deadline set by Tunheim, it would face civil contempt and daily civil fines “until full compliance is achieved,” Tunheim wrote in his order.

A Rebuke From Judge Evanson In Washington

On Friday, Judge Kymberly K. Evanson, who serves in the District Court for the Western District of Washington, ordered a bond hearing for an Iranian Kurd who ICE was trying to send back to Iran just days ahead of the war.

Azad Rahmani, a citizen of Iran and an ethnic Kurd, fled his home country in 2023 for Brazil “after being beaten, imprisoned, interrogated, and threatened by Iranian officials over his participation in political protests,” court documents read. He never obtained permanent status in Brazil, so Rahmani headed north, eventually reaching the U.S. where he pursued a claim for asylum.

In September 2023, he was charged by the Department of Homeland Security as removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and while he appeared in courts several times after that, in the summer of 2025 he skipped his removal hearing fearing he would be sent back to Iran.

He was found a day later by a Custom and Border Protection (CBP) officer near the border with Canada, where he was arrested. Rahmani has now been detained for seven months “under conditions similar to a prison,” Judge Evanson wrote in her ruling, “and has many months—if not years—left before there is any possibility of release or removal.”

For this reason, the judge decided to grant Rahmani’s petition to obtain a bond hearing within 14 days and forbid his removal to a third country such as Iran “without providing notice and an opportunity for Petitioner to be heard in response.”

Another Scolding From Texas’ Judge Cardone

In Texas, Judge Cardone ordered a bond hearing for a man detained in El Paso on Friday, scolding the administration for twice confusing cases of people with the same surname over the last two weeks.

“Respondents’ counsel are reminded of their duty of diligence. They must implement procedures to avoid the repeated recurrence of such mistakes and ensure that they are filing documents in the correct cases,” Cardone wrote in the court order, after recounting an episode of the agency missing the deadline to respond to the court because of confusing the cases of two individuals named “Garcia Garcia.”

Petitioner Juan Ponciano Garcia Garcia, who has been in the U.S. since 2010, was apprehended and detained by immigration authorities in November 2025, a detention he argues is unlawful.

On Friday, Cardone ordered ICE to provide Garcia with a bond hearing before an immigration judge, at which the Government shall bear the burden of justifying, by clear and convincing evidence of dangerousness or flight risk, Garcia’s continued detention; or release Garcia from custody, under reasonable conditions of supervision.