A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered ICE to release the nursing mother of a 6-month-old from ICE custody, according to reports.
Judge David C. Joseph of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled that Karina Alvarez San Juan, who has three other minor children who are U.S. citizens, was detained in violation of ICE's policy against detaining most pregnant or postpartum mothers.
She was detained on May 6 and taken to ICE’s South Louisiana Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, on May 9. San Juan argued that she was being unlawfully detained and that "her bond hearing was cancelled and her emergency motion denied without explanation, violating due process."
Joseph called on ICE to provide additional information, and the agency filed a response saying it had no further evidence.
"He gave ICE a chance to defend the detention. The agency declined," Kyle Cheney, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, wrote on X.