Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abducted a 24-year-old undocumented transgender Mexican woman after she left her asylum hearing in a Portland, Oregon courtroom last Monday and quickly transported her to Tacoma, Washington, so that they could deport her. Now, the woman’s lawyers say they’re unable to contact her, and a federal judge has ordered ICE not to deport her out of Washington state.

The woman, identified only as O.J.M. in media reports, sought asylum in the US in September 2023 after experiencing rape and death threats at the hands of Mexico’s dangerous Knights Templar Cartel due to her trans identity. She is likely being held in a men’s detention facility, in line with the administration’s policies of treating trans women as cis men. Her incarceration is just the latest ICE courthouse arrest, something that alarms immigration advocates amid the administration’s goal of mass deportations.

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O.J.M. had attended regular ICE check-ins since fleeing to the US and filed her formal asylum claim in February. However, ICE began its removal proceedings against her in April. During her hearing on Monday, ICE moved to dismiss the woman’s case, which immediately vacated her asylum case and its legal protections, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) reported. After the hearing, ICE detained her.

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The day after ICE detained her, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio issued an order demanding that ICE agents not transport O.J.M. outside of Oregon, but ICE officials told the judge that they had already done so. It’s believed that ICE then transported her to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

“O.J.M. had properly filed her asylum application, but ICE appears to be attempting to place her in expedited removal, a rapid deportation process with minimal protections,” states her lawyers’ habeas petition, according to Advocate. A habeas petition is a legal filing challenging the legality of a person’s detention.

In a statement, the nonprofit group Basic Rights Oregon wrote, “ICE agents detained her right outside the courtroom, disrupting her case and stripping her of her due process rights… It is outrageous that ICE would come to Oregon and target a trans woman who is guilty only of seeking a safe and affirming place to live. Courthouse arrests destroy the integrity of our justice system.”

Judge Amy Baggio has now demanded that ICE and officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) specify the “exact date and time” that O.J.M. was transferred and an explanation of why ICE agents “believed that such a move was immediately necessary.” She has given ICE and the DHS until Friday to respond.

A DHS spokesperson told OPB, “If [O.J.M. has] a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, [undocumented immigrants] will be subject to a swift deportation.”

Courtroom raids increase as ICE & DHS seek 3,000 daily deportations

ICE has increasingly stepped up high-profile arrests of immigrants attending routine court hearings in order to execute the president’s goal of the largest deportation campaign in American history, with a target of 3,000 deportations each day. The effort is turning immigration courts “from places of due process into zones of fear” and punishing immigrants who were trying to follow the law, CNN wrote.

ICE has recently removed guidelines advising its agents not to violate state and local laws while conducting courthouse raids, Wired reported. DHS has also ordered agents to quickly apprehend immigrants after courts dismiss their cases or order their removal, initiating fast-track deportation proceedings for those who have been in the US for fewer than two years, internal documents state.

The DHS is focusing on so-called sanctuary states, cities, and counties that have discouraged law enforcement officials from aiding ICE agents, claiming that these jurisdictions’ refusals put them in violation of federal law.

Additionally, ICE agents have covered their faces with masks and hidden their names during courthouse raids, ostensibly to protect them from being targeted for doxing and threats, according to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons.

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