West
Judge orders release of migrant trans woman held in male section of ICE facility
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A Mexican transgender migrant seeking asylum in the U.S. after allegedly being abducted and raped by cartel members has been ordered released from an all-male Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility by a federal judge on due process grounds.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio, a President Joe Biden appointee, ordered the migrant released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, ruling that the asylum seeker had been deprived of liberty without proper procedural safeguards.
The migrant, a 24-year-old transgender woman identified as “O-J-M” in court documents, was arrested outside a Portland courtroom last month and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
Judge Amy Margaret Baggio speaks during her Senate judiciary nomination hearing. Baggio ordered ICE to release a transgender asylum seeker who was held for over 40 days in a men’s facility after being arrested outside a Portland courtroom. (U.S. Senate)
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS MEXICAN MIGRANT SEEKING ASYLUM TO BE RELEASED BY ICE
The nonprofit Innovation Law Lab, whose attorneys represent O-J-M, welcomed the move and decried the fact O-J-M was being held at a man’s facility.
“President Trump’s anti-transgender executive order forced her into a men’s facility, and into solitary confinement for her own safety, adding layers of cruelty to an already unconstitutional detention,” a social media post by Innovation Law Lab reads.
“OJM was detained for over a month simply for legally seeking asylum. Seeking asylum is lawful, and a human right. This is a huge victory for our trans and immigrant communities in Oregon.”
O-J-M’s attorneys said O-J-M was abducted and raped in Mexico because of gender identity and sexual orientation and was seeking asylum on those grounds.
O-J-M was arrested in Portland’s immigration court in early June after a judge granted the government’s request to dismiss the asylum case. O-J-M was then transferred to an ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington and held there for over 40 days.
But O-J-M’s attorneys filed a habeas petition, a legal motion asking the court to review whether the detention was lawful, saying they were not aware of their client’s location after O-J-M was taken into custody.
An aerial view of detainees exercising in an outdoor recreation area at the Northwest ICE Processing Center (David Ryder/Getty Images)
TRUMP ‘WORKING ON’ DEPORTATION EXEMPTIONS FOR ILLEGAL FARM AND HOSPITALITY WORKERS
Under due process standards, especially in asylum cases, attorneys must be able to locate their client and ICE is required to notify or justify sudden detentions and transfers.
In O-J-M’s case, the judge found that ICE’s failure to provide timely, specific information about the migrant’s location and legal status violated fundamental procedural fairness. The judge had also demanded to know why it was deemed immediately necessary.
One of the migrant’s attorneys, Stephen Manning, of Immigrant Law Group, previously told OPB that O-J-M was processed into the Tacoma detention center, but he had not been granted access to her since her transfer.
O-J-M was arrested outside a Portland courtroom last month and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They threatened to kill her because O-J-M is a transgender woman,” her habeas petition states, per OPB. “Fearing for her life, she fled and sought asylum in the United States in September 2023.”
Manning told Willamette Weekly that his client had not committed a crime while in the U.S. O-J-M has regularly checked in at ICE offices as instructed.
Oregon sanctuary laws prevent it from having long-term immigration detention facilities, and — aside from temporary holding cells at the Portland ICE office — the nearest immigration detention center is the Tacoma facility.
Read the full article from Here
The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday declined to review the Oregon Court of Appeals’ decision upholding Multnomah County’s ban on flavored tobacco and nicotine products.
Legal challenges have so far delayed the ordinance from taking effect since it was passed four years ago. It was not immediately clear when the ban would go into effect.
“Flavors are one of Big Tobacco’s biggest tricks to hook the next generation of Oregonians on their deadly products,” Christina Bodamer, who leads the Western states region of the American Heart Association, said following the court’s decision.
The Board of County Commissioners originally approved the ordinance banning flavored tobacco and nicotine products in December 2022 to take effect Jan. 1, 2024. But the ordinance hit a roadblock: a court challenge by the 21+ Tobacco and Vapor Retail Association of Oregon, e-cigarette retailer No Moke Daddy LLC, and vape shop owner Paul Bates.
It has been working its way through the state court system since. The Multnomah County Circuit Court upheld the ban in September 2023. The state Court of Appeals continued the pause on implementation February 2024, before upholding the ban in an April 2025 decision. The Supreme Court’s denial of review marks the end of the saga.
The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a similar restriction in Washington County in May. That now sets up both ordinances to go into effect, which will together ban flavored tobacco and nicotine for one-third of Oregonians. A similar ban failed in the Oregon Legislature in 2025, dying in committee.
Tobacco use is the top cause of preventable death and disease in Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority. More than 8,000 Oregonians die from tobacco use each year.
Supporters of the ban argue that flavored tobacco acts as a gateway for underage use. According to Flavors Hook Oregon Kids, a coalition of more than 60 organizations that support the ban, 81% of Oregonian kids who’ve used tobacco started with flavored products. And flavored products are much more popular among kids and young adults than older adults, OHA says.
Richard Burke, executive director of the 21+ Tobacco and Vapor Retail Association of Oregon, tells WW the group is disappointed that the Supreme Court did not take up the case. He argues that banning flavored tobacco “has effectively granted a monopoly to the black market,” where flavored products are often laced with more dangerous substances.
“We agree with the goal of keeping these products out of the hands of minors,” Burke says. “But this is an overcorrection that will result in unintended consequences as has been shown by attempts to institute flavor bans in other parts of the country.”
Willamette Week’s reporting has real-life impact that changes laws, forces action by civic leaders, and drives compromised politicians from public office.
Support WW.
-
Missouri4 minutes ago
Missouri Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 winning numbers for July 13, 2026
-
Montana10 minutes agoMissoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for July 14
-
Nebraska15 minutes agoCyclospora outbreak reaches Nebraska as health officials investigate source
-
New Hampshire27 minutes agoThousands Of Sunflowers Hit Peak Bloom For Limited Time At Coppal House Farm In Lee
-
New Jersey34 minutes agoNJ fines Sen. Wimberly $24K after use of donations for hotels, airfare
-
New Mexico39 minutes agoNew Mexico wants to get orphaned wells plugged — but did contractors get the word?
-
North Carolina46 minutes agoNorth Carolina attempted murder suspect arrested in Myrtle Beach
-
North Dakota52 minutes agoFamilies allege babies were switched at Grafton hospital
