The Herrera family (from left to right) Cristian, Maria Trinidad Loya Medina, Valeria and Serapio Herrera pose for a family photo. Medina has been separated from her family since her immigration arrest on Jan. 10, 2026 in Albany.
Courtesy of the Herrera family
After four months in immigration detention, a mom from Albany, Oregon, is finally back with her family.
A federal judge ordered the immediate release of Maria Trinidad Loya Medina on Thursday, but she was not released until the following morning.
Loya Medina has been in custody at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Northwest Processing Center in Tacoma since her Jan. 10 arrest outside the Big 5 Sporting Goods store in Albany, where she was buying soccer socks for her son.
Magistrate Judge Grady L. Leupold granted Loya Medina’s second habeas corpus petition on May 7, ordering her immediate release from the detention center.
“I feel relieved and grateful,” Loya Medina’s 16-year-old son Cristian told OPB Thursday evening after learning his mom had been ordered released.
One of more than 1,000 arrests that took place in Oregon between the fall of 2025 and early 2026, Loya Medina’s detention devastated her family.
She had served as the primary caretaker for her husband, Serapio, who suffered a stroke a month before her detention. Her 14-year-old daughter, Valeria, was diagnosed with depression following her arrest.
Loya Medina has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years and has no criminal record.
Judge Leupold found that a Tacoma immigration judge “abused their discretion” and violated Loya Medina’s due process rights in denying her bond in February.
“No reasonable and impartial decision-maker presented with the facts and evidence of Petitioner’s case would conclude denial of bond was warranted,” Leupold wrote.
In the ruling ordering her release, Leupold wrote that Loya Medina’s continued detention would cause “irreparable injury” to her and her family.
“Petitioner’s continued detention while awaiting agency review of her claims disrupts her ability to provide financial support and maintain the stability of her household, including care for her husband and children,” Leupold wrote, also noting Loya Medina’s role as caregiver for her husband and children and Valeria’s depression diagnosis.
FILE: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma
Stephani Gordon / OPB
Initially, the immigration court in Tacoma did not give Loya Medina the opportunity for a bond hearing. She filed her first habeas petition with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Jan. 14. Loya Medina’s lawyer asked the court to either order her release or demand the immigration court hear her case for bond. The district court ordered an immigration judge to hear her bond case.
At the court-ordered bond hearing in February — which lasted just 15 minutes — the immigration judge denied Loya Medina’s release on bail after determining she was a poor candidate for bail because of flight risk. The immigration judge based the denial in part on Loya Medina being slow to exit her car when she was arrested, prompting one of the immigration officers to break her window.
Leupold pointed out that Loya Medina did not threaten the officers, use violence or attempt to flee at any point during her arrest. In a declaration submitted along with the habeas petition, Loya Medina said she did not initially comply with the officers’ commands to exit her car because she was confused and afraid. Instead, she said she showed them her driver’s license and a “know your rights” red card through the window.
Leupold said Loya Medina’s actions during the arrest did not make her a flight risk. The judge determined she should be immediately released rather than have another bond hearing because the immigration court failed to hear her case fairly at the initial hearing.
“We are grateful Maria is finally home, but she should have never spent a single day in detention,” Jose Miranda, one of Loya Medina’s attorneys, said in a press release Friday morning. “Maria was separated from her family for months because ICE refused to follow the law. We are vindicated by the federal court’s decision to hold ICE to account and free her.”
While the federal judge ordered her release from detention, her immigration case remains on appeal. In February, the same immigration judge who initially denied her release on bond also denied her request to cancel her order for removal. The case remains pending with the Board of Immigration Appeals, which has not offered any status updates on her case.
“We are grateful that my wife finally got the justice she deserved. My children and I will be complete with my wife at home,” Serapio Herrera said in Spanish in the press release. “Truly, I have no words to describe how happy we are.”
