An asylum seeker was removed from Oregon by immigration officials Monday, hours after she was detained outside a Portland courtroom, according to a federal court docket.
The woman, identified as “O-J-M” in court documents, is from Mexico and has been living in Vancouver, Washington. Her arrest alarmed some advocates, and appears to be in line with a growing trend of immigration enforcement at courthouses across the country.
On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio issued an order that barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from taking O-J-M out of Oregon. But immigration officials responded, telling the judge they had already removed her the day before.
In that case, Baggio’s order requires ICE to detail the “exact date and time” that O-J-M was removed, and the reason why federal officials “believed that such a move was immediately necessary.”
Baggio’s order was prompted by a habeas petition filed by O-J-M’s attorneys shortly after her arrest because they did not know where she was being detained. The filing aims to force ICE to bring O-J-M before a federal judge in Oregon.
“We can confirm that the federal government advised the court that she was processed into the Tacoma detention center last night. But as we have not been granted access to her since her transfer, we cannot confirm anything further,” Stephen Manning, an attorney representing O-J-M, told OPB Tuesday afternoon.
In an updated order, Baggio stated that federal immigration officials must not transport O-J-M from that detention facility.
Oregon does not have long-term immigration detention facilities due to its sanctuary laws that prohibit local jails from contracting with federal immigration authorities. Apart from short-term holding cells at the Portland ICE office, the closest immigration detention center is the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on SW Macadam Ave in Portland.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra / OPB
O-J-M is seeking asylum in the United States after being sexually assaulted by several members of a Mexican drug cartel.
“They threatened to kill her because O-J-M is a transgender woman,” her habeas petition states. “Fearing for her life, she fled and sought asylum in the United States in September 2023.”
O-J-M sought asylum at a port of entry along the California-Mexico border, where she was arrested, detained and released, according to her attorneys. Since then, she has attended ICE check-ins and filed her formal asylum claim in February. In April, immigration officials began removal proceedings against O-J-M.
At a mandatory court hearing on her asylum case in Portland on Monday, attorneys for ICE moved to dismiss O-J-M’s case entirely. That effectively vacated her asylum case and the legal protections that come with it. Immediately after the hearing, ICE officers detained O-J-M.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday that arrests at immigration court are indeed a shift from the previous administration’s policies.
“ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,” the agency spokesperson wrote. “If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
In her court order, Baggio determined she has jurisdiction over O-J-M’s habeas case, and has ordered ICE or DHS to file a response to the petition by Friday.
