ICE agents in Minnesota took two Venezuelan men back into custody inside a federal courthouse on Tuesday, just minutes after a judge ordered their release in a criminal case. This prompted an emergency court filing and raised new questions about how immigration detention relates to federal court release orders.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko granted conditional release to Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna, 26, and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, 24. He determined they did not pose a heightened flight risk, according to Fox News’ account of the hearing and cited court records. ICE agents re-arrested both men before they left the federal building.
Attorneys for the men told the Minnesota Star Tribune that ICE detained them “without explanation,” according to Fox. They filed a habeas corpus petition late Tuesday seeking their release. A subsequent court order barred ICE from removing the men from Minnesota and set a deadline for the federal government to explain its actions by Friday, Fox News reported.
The courthouse arrests were linked to a separate incident in north Minneapolis on January 14 that received national attention. The Department of Homeland Security stated that ICE officers tried to stop Sosa-Celis for a targeted traffic stop. He fled in a vehicle, crashed, and ran on foot before an officer caught him. DHS alleged that Sosa-Celis resisted arrest and assaulted the officer, while Ajorna later assaulted an officer during the encounter.
Ajorna and Sosa-Celis have denied assaulting the officer. A report from the Associated Press published in late January indicated that neither video evidence nor three eyewitnesses supported key parts of the officer’s account about being struck with a broom and snow shovels. The AP report noted that the men had no violent criminal records, according to their attorneys, and Micko mentioned that ICE could still detain them even if the court released them in the assault case.
A separate judge, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson, rejected the government’s appeal of Micko’s release order during a hearing Tuesday. He ruled the men could go free on the criminal charges, according to an AP report. They did not leave custody because ICE immediately detained them under immigration authority.
This situation unfolded as immigration enforcement in the Minneapolis area continues to lead to lawsuits and public confrontations. On Tuesday, immigration officers with guns drawn arrested activists who were following their vehicles in Minneapolis, the AP reported. Meanwhile, Governor Tim Walz and school leaders noted growing anxiety in some school communities due to federal operations. The same AP report stated that “another judge ordered the release of two Venezuelan men” accused of assaulting an ICE officer, but ICE quickly took them back into custody.
The key legal issue now focuses on whether ICE can keep Ajorna and Sosa-Celis in immigration detention despite the federal court’s release decision in the criminal case. It also questions whether agents acted lawfully by re-arresting them immediately inside the courthouse. Fox reported that the men’s attorney, Brian Clark, argued in the emergency filing that the re-detention violated the Constitution and requested the court to order their immediate release.
ICE and DHS did not provide a detailed public explanation for the immediate re-arrests in the Fox report. The case remains pending, with the federal government ordered to respond in court as the habeas challenge continues.
