What’s at stake: The sole role of the Executive Branch of Government is to faithfully execute the laws of the United States — including the Refugee Act of 1980 which requires people to be physically present in the United States in order to apply for asylum. Is the Executive Branch acting in bad faith when it manipulates courts and removal proceedings to cancel lawfully filed asylum applications and detain asylum-seekers without due process? 

On June 2, 2025, federal immigration enforcement agents arrested O-J-M-, a transgender migrant woman who lawfully applied for asylum in the United States. Since arriving in the United States nearly two years ago, O-J-M- has done everything the law asked of her: has complied with every order, instruction and condition of her asylum case, even though the immigration authorities messed up her paperwork with the wrong hearing date and the agents filed their paperwork late. In spite of the mistakes made by ICE in her case, O-J-M- got her asylum application on file and showed up early for her court date. But none of that mattered for OJM because ICE arrested her at her immigration court hearing. ICE arrested OJM not because she did anything wrong–because she has followed every step in the legal process –rather, ICE arrested OJM because of what ICE did: manipulating the removal hearing to get her case dismissed and cancel her asylum application. Then, in the courtroom room lobby, several ICE agents arrested her and a low-level immigration officer–not a judge–ordered her removed without any due process. The law permits, but does not require, immigration agents to detain an asylum-seeker who is a flight risk because they might not appear for their court hearing, yet none of her actions indicated she was a flight risk. 

OJM’s attorneys filed a petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in the United States District Court for Oregon alleging that ICE’s arrest and detention of OJM violates the Due Process Clause and the Administrative Procedure Act. As of July 14th, 2025, OJM has been ordered released.

No person should be subjected to the arbitrary and capricious whims of the Executive Branch.