In recent months, President Donald Trump's administration has tried to bypass parts of the law to nab those it believes are in the United States illegally. In some cases, they have used "administrative warrants," which are not the same as judicial warrants, which require a judge's sign-off. However, in one recent case, they didn't even try that.
That strategy is coming back to bite them as a Trump-appointed federal judge in Indiana demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately release a Brazilian man he said was "unlawfully detained in violation of the laws or Constitution of the United States."
Law&Crime reported Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Damon R. Leichty ordered the release of Robert Mendes Barbosa, saying that the "detention is unlawful under the applicable statutory scheme." The statute he's referring to is federal law.
"It seems no warrant was issued here," the judge wrote. "Mr. Mendes Barbosa is unaware of an arrest warrant. The respondents usually will tell the court when there has been a warrant, but here they do not argue there was one and they do not produce one."
The judge explained that Mendes Barbosa was given a notice to appear in immigration court, but that was very different than an arrest warrant.
"Warrantless arrests are permitted by statute only when certain conditions are met, such as when an ICE official personally witnesses a noncitizen attempting to enter the United States, or when an official has reason to believe a noncitizen has no right to be in the United States and is 'likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained,'" the judge said, citing the law.
The report stated that Mendes Barbosa came into the U.S. in 2024 near San Diego, was detained and then "released on his own recognizance." In Jan. 2026, he was then snatched by ICE agents in Boston and taken to a detention facility in Miami.
"He argues that his detention violates applicable statutes, the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedures Act," the order said. "He seeks immediate release from custody or alternatively an individualized bond hearing."
The report noted that in July 2025, ICE invented a new policy, in which all agents were to deny bond to anyone who entered the U.S. without an "inspection." As Law&Crime characterized, it "opened the floodgates of litigation."
Those individuals are not to be detained "for the duration of their removal proceedings" unless a judge steps in. "The Trump administration has made clear such detentions are intended to be indefinite," the report said.
"Mr. Mendes Barbosa has met his burden of showing a 'deprivation of rights leading to unlawful detention,'" the judge wrote.
