A Guatemalan man missed the birth of his first child after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held him for several days despite a federal court order requiring his “immediate release,” according to legal filings and his family.
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On May 1, U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen E. Scott of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that ICE had violated procedural due‑process protections when it re‑detained Freddy Cortez Lugos—who was in the U.S. on humanitarian parole—during a routine check‑in and ordered the agency to free him without delay. Instead, Cortez Lugos remained in custody until the evening of May 4, his relatives said, adding that amid the delay, his partner went into labor and gave birth to their son, Izaan, on May 1.
The case highlights the ongoing tension between federal courts and the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy, as judges continue to scrutinize ICE’s authority to re‑detain people who were previously released under parole or supervision. At stake is not only whether ICE is complying promptly with court orders but also whether constitutional due‑process protections have real force during the government’s aggressive push to expand immigration enforcement.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Newsweek that federal agents arrested Cortez Lugos on April 14 after he allegedly “committed 12 violations of his ICE check-in requirements.”
Unlawful Detention
Scott partially granted a habeas corpus petition filed on Cortez Lugos’ behalf, concluding that ICE unlawfully re-detained him during a routine check-in on April 14 without providing written notice or an individualized hearing, as required under constitutional due process protections.
Cortez Lugos had been living in the United States on humanitarian parole since 2024 and was enrolled in ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, under which he complied with reporting requirements and had no criminal record, according to the court order.
DHS said he entered the United States in 2024 through the CBP One program, a now-discontinued government app that allowed migrants to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry. The court order said Cortez Lugos entered through the southern border and was granted parole for humanitarian or public-benefit reasons, allowing him to live and work in the country.
The court rejected the government’s argument that Cortez Lugos could be held without a hearing as an “arriving alien” subject to mandatory detention. Even if that classification applied, the judge wrote, due process would still require ICE to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard before returning him to custody.
The court found that ICE did not explain what had changed to justify re‑detaining Cortez Lugos after almost two years in the community, increasing the risk of an erroneous deprivation of liberty.
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The judge ordered ICE to “immediately release” him and file a status report by May 5 confirming compliance. Scott also barred re-detention without written notice and a pre-detention hearing before a neutral decision-maker.
Despite the May 1 ruling, Cortez Lugos was not released from the Adelanto Detention Facility in California until the evening of May 4, according to his family.
While Cortez Lugos’ partner—who had been almost eight months pregnant at the time of his arrest in April—experienced complications during labor, which the doctors attributed to stress, she is now recovering, the family said. The relatives added that the baby is healthy and weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces at birth.
Delayed Release
Family members said they visited the facility after the court ruling and were told by ICE officers that no release order had been received or that no attorney had been assigned to the case.
“I went over … to talk to the ICE officer, and the officer said he had no court order and he had no attorney assigned to Freddy’s case so he couldn’t help me. I had the court order in my hands, and the ICE officer would still not answer all my questions,” Kimberly Barajas, the sister of Cortez Lugos’ partner, told Newsweek.
“Cortez-Lugos was ordered released from ICE custody, and he was released as soon as ICE was notified to do so,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Barajas said: “Freddy is a hard-working man … his detention was unlawful, and it was proven by the habeas petition that Freddy was detained by error, and if the facility had released him the day the court ruled and the judge signed the order, Freddy could have been out and made it to his child’s birth.”
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