Federal judges have ordered the government to release migrants suspected of being violent gang members, drawing a rebuke from Trump officials who say the judges are endangering Americans.
Sigal Chattah, who is heading the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas, said last week that a federal judge in Nevada ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release a convicted murderer and “known” MS-13 gang member who had a final deportation order lodged against him.
Ms. Chattah said the directive by U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware II, an Obama appointee, raised “serious public safety concerns.”
“We are deeply troubled by the risks posed to the public and will continue to pursue all lawful avenues to address those concerns and safeguard the community,” she said.
In Texas, another judge ordered the government to release Juan Carlos Garcia-Calderon despite government concerns that he had gang connections.
Both cases involve “habeas corpus” petitions, which are limited but powerful challenges to the government’s authority to arrest and detain.
The Washington Times has reported that the popularity of habeas corpus petitions has soared among attorneys of migrants snared in President Trump’s deportation surge.
Across the country, judges are freeing migrants after ruling that the government has stretched the laws governing immigration detention.
The gang members represent special cases.
Government officials say illegal immigrants who are deemed risks to public safety should — and can — be held until they are deported.
One government source said the gang releases aren’t isolated incidents.
“Some are being released with zero supervision,” the source told The Washington Times.
In the Nevada case, Judge Boulware agreed to let the Department of Homeland Security impose some “reasonable terms of supervision.” He sternly ordered the government to ensure that the man was free by Jan. 21.
Ms. Chattah didn’t name the migrant in her statement, but the facts track with a man identified in court documents as L.R., a citizen of El Salvador who served a 25-year sentence, was paroled in 2022 and was arrested for deportation purposes months later.
He has been in detention ever since.
Court documents show that he joined MS-13 in the U.S. and then, while in prison, joined the Mexican Mafia, a broad and powerful prison gang. Judge Boulware said L.R. “debriefed” from both gangs.
The Biden administration sought to send him back to El Salvador, but he said his past gang membership and his visible tattoos make him a target for MS-13 and the Salvadoran government. The immigration courts agreed, which meant he couldn’t be sent to El Salvador.
The Trump administration sought to send him to Mexico instead.
Judge Boulware said L.R. has raised questions about whether he would face danger from the Mexican Mafia in Mexico, given that he left that gang.
The judge said those issues need to be addressed before deportation, but because that solution isn’t imminent, L.R. must be released in the meantime.
He said the release is even more warranted given recent threats by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who told the man to buy a ticket and self-deport to Mexico or else he could end up back in El Salvador. Judge Boulware called that message “alarming.”
L.R.’s criminal history includes 1996 convictions for selling a sawed-off shotgun and for possessing a dangerous weapon, 1997 arrests on drug charges, carrying a concealed weapon and illegal entry, and convictions that same year for first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and several gun charges.
In a written ruling last week, Judge Boulware bristled at the Justice Department’s claim that he was being asked to “overlook” the murder conviction and gang record.
He said those arguments “have zero bearing on the matter and claims before the court.”
“The court acknowledges petitioner’s significant criminal history while also acknowledging that he has served a lengthy sentence and been paroled for these crimes. That alone is all the court need consider when applying the law and making its findings in the instant case,” the judge wrote.
In the case in Texas, Judge Alan Albright gave the government extra time to prove that the migrant was a member of a gang. He said the government failed to submit any new evidence and wasn’t citing terrorism-related grounds in asking that he be detained.
Judge Boulware has been particularly active in habeas corpus cases.
Out of 11 such cases filed in Nevada since Nov. 1, he landed nine of them.
Other districts have even more such action.
In Massachusetts, 153 cases labeled as “alien habeas” in nature had been filed this month alone, as of Monday afternoon. In the federal district that covers Los Angeles, 167 cases have been filed this month.
In Minnesota, the scene of a massive surge in federal immigration enforcement, 411 cases had been filed on the public docket this month as of Monday afternoon. In January 2025, just a single case was filed.
Attorneys say they have been forced to bring the habeas challenges to combat a new interpretation of the law by the Trump team, which has argued for more expansive detention powers.
District judges have almost universally rejected that argument.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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