Ordered free, still locked up: Judges fume as Trump administration holds ICE detainees

Los Angeles Times ^ | April 19, 2026 3 AM PT | Sonja Sharp

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• A legal maneuver once reserved for death row inmates and suspected terrorists has become the only recourse for immigrant detainees.
• The petitions for freedom have flooded California’s Eastern District, where the chief judge recently took the unusual step of announcing a “judicial emergency.”
• Many of the cases involve longtime U.S. residents unexpectedly hauled off to jail after routine immigration check-ins.

Federal immigration officials had once again flouted his authority by keeping a man locked up in a California City detention center after Nunley ordered him released. When he was finally set free, the man was booted onto the street with no passport, driver’s license or other personal effects. The judge’s demand that the items be returned were met with silence.

And so on Tuesday, Nunley, the chief judge of the Eastern District of California, slapped Department of Justice attorney Jonathan Yu with an official sanction and a $250 fine.

In a scathing order, Nunley laid out why he was compelled to take such a rare step. The fine may have been less than some traffic tickets, but it’s nearly unheard for a judge to formally admonish a government lawyer.

By Yu’s own admission, he was drowning in work. In his order, Nunley recounted the attorney’s claim he’d been assigned more than 300 nearly identical cases in the last three months, all of immigrants in detention who argued they were being held without cause.

Court filings show many California cases involve longtime U.S. residents unexpectedly hauled off to jail after routine check-ins with immigration officials. One was an Afghan who’d helped the American war effort. Another a Cambodian grandmother of eight who fled Pol Pot’s killing fields as a girl nearly 50 years ago.

Until last year, most would have fought deportation on bond after a brief hearing with an...

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TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; california; enemedia; ice; judgewatch; losangelesslimes; msm

[Sarah Barracuda]

Maybe we can send some criminal aliens to the judges house, let them have some fun with his wife and kids see how he likes it then

[Fai Mao]

The cause is that he is in the country illegally

[zoomie92]

many California cases involve “longtime U.S. residents”

otherwise known as ILLEGAL ALIENS.

[HYPOCRACY]

Every illegal is a “US resident”. Numbnuts.

[HYPOCRACY]

GMTA!

[for-q-clinton]

SCOTUS already ruled we can hold them until court date.

[GMThrust]

From the judge “The majority of the cases that we see are cases where people should not be detained,” Nunley said. “They should be receiving hearings to determine whether or not they are to remain in this country, and until they receive those hearings, they should be free.”
That works out so well. /S

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Word up to Sonja Sharp, alleged journalist: “longtime resident” is not an immigration status.

[Mariner]

From the judge “The majority of the cases that we see are cases where people should not be detained,” Nunley said. “They should be receiving hearings to determine whether or not they are to remain in this country, and until they receive those hearings, they should be free.”

What ever happened citation of law and precedent? Is that the quality of Jurisprudence taught in school?

[George from New England]

First five words, suggest Colorado 70yr old saint, Peters
But no

[Sacajaweau]

Cuz no one was showing up for their court date if they were released....

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””” Many of the cases involve longtime U.S. residents unexpectedly hauled off to jail after routine immigration check-ins.””””

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Yeah sure LA TIMES!!!!! I believe every word you wrote here.

[Prospero]

What a POS 'newspaper.'

"The Media," as such, is truly extinct.

[higgmeister]

Ordered free, still locked up: Judges fume as Trump administration holds ICE detainees

Finally!   If an activist Judge decrees nonsense, let him try to enforce it.

[faithhopecharity]

it is possible for a lawyer or anyone else to get overloaded with work

[BFW]

Let me guess, they all had their petitions to stay denied or were out right issued a deportation order under the “Go Brandon” biden admin and were still here and let go under the lefts catch and release program.

Then there’s the good old not showing up for immigration hearings stick.

“longtime U.S. residents” = Flouting US laws sucking up tax payer money and social services (Education benefits medicare, EBT and more) while they work and do not pay taxes then send that money out of the country.

Petitions to stay denied - deport.

Failure to follow the law, not showing up for hearings - deport.

Holding them in custody is the prerogative of the government so they will not disappear when released.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

None of the detainees have committed more crimes in our neighborhoods.

This is what really irks the Left. They thrive on chaos and death.

[Alas Babylon!]

Illegal alien, no matter how long they hid from authorities, are not US citizens.

[pierrem15]

So? Stop pussy footing around and start arresting Federal judges on obstruction, sedition and treason charges.