Judge orders release of Albany mom after 4 months in ICE detention

(This story has been up to date to incorporate new info)

An Albany mom detained in Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center for 4 months was launched May 8 after a federal decide in Washington ordered her release on May 7, discovering that an immigration decide had violated Maria Loya Medina’s constitutional due course of rights when he denied her release on bond.

“No reasonable and impartial decision-maker presented with the facts and evidence of Petitioner’s case would conclude denial of bond was warranted,” wrote Judge Grady J. Leupold.

Medina was detained by federal immigration brokers on Jan. 10 in the car parking zone of the Big 5 Sporting Goods retailer on Pacific Boulevard in Albany. Loya had simply purchased socks for her son, who wanted them for a soccer sport that day. The brokers have been half of Operation Black Rose, a US Department of Homeland Security operation that resulted in greater than 1,000 arrests throughout Oregon in 2025.

Medina described in courtroom data being surrounded by a number of ICE brokers on the sporting items retailer, and her son described being on FaceTime as she was detained. Agents smashed her automobile window.

Described in courtroom paperwork as a cared-for and revered half of the Albany neighborhood, Medina has lived in the nation since 2005 and has lived in Albany for seven years. She is married and the mom of two US residents: a 14-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.

She can be the first caregiver for her husband, Serapio Herrera, who suffered a stroke in December 2025 and later additionally underwent coronary heart surgical procedure.

There aren’t any prison courtroom data for Loya in Oregon. Her solely run-in with the regulation earlier than her arrest was when she tried to enter the nation in 1998 close to Tijuana. She was briefly arrested by the US Border Patrol and voluntarily returned to Mexico, her legal professionals wrote.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security described Medina as an “illegal alien from Mexico” who was arrested in a “targeted vehicle stop.” They repeated what they beforehand shared after legal professionals filed a brand new petition for Medina’s release on March 6: that she “chose to commit a felony and illegally re-enter the US at an unknown location and date” and stated she had obtained full due course of.

The spokesperson additionally repeated a name for detainees to “take control” and self-deport.

Lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition on Loya’s behalf on Jan. 14, arguing that her detention was illegal and that she was entitled to a bond listening to. The petition was granted on Jan. 29. An immigration decide denied Medina bond after a listening to on Feb. 4 on the Tacoma Immigration Court.

Loya’s legal professionals had submitted a 69-page bond proof packet to the immigration courtroom, together with proof of a set tackle, sturdy neighborhood ties, her employment historical past, letters from her husband and teenage son, her marriage certificates, her son’s transcript with straight-A grades, documentation of her husband’s stroke, and letters of help from neighborhood members, her pastor and her husband’s medical doctors.

The listening to took about quarter-hour, was not recorded, and supplied inadequate stay decoding for Loya. She was declared a “Flight Risk” and denied bond and conditional release.

In his order, Leupold wrote that immigration Judge John O’Dell had strayed by counting on components like Medina’s prior immigration historical past since 1998 and her use of a false Social Security quantity for employment alone. The immigration decide additionally relied on his alleged conduct throughout his January 2026 arrest.

Leupold stated the immigration decide didn’t point out that Medina tried to flee, threatened officers, engaged in violence, or in any other case took steps to evade arrest. Therefore, the immigration decide failed to clarify “how this isolated conduct automatically demonstrated that Petitioner posed a flight risk warranting continued detention.”

“The Court therefore concludes that the IJ abused discretion in denying bond and that Petitioner’s continued detention pursuant to that determination violates due process,” Leupold added.

Her legal professionals decried a delay in Medina’s release regardless of the courtroom order.

“Maria spent another night separated from her family in violation of the Constitution and the judge’s order,” stated Stephen W. Manning, an legal professional at Innovation Law Lab and co-counsel on the case. “While ICE operates a 24/7 arrest machine, it only bothers to comply with the Constitution and court orders during banker’s hours.”

DHS stated that ICE had launched Medina “in accordance with all safe release directives as soon as it was notified to do so.”

José G. Miranda, senior employees legal professional at Innovation Law Lab, stated they have been grateful that Medina is lastly dwelling, however that she ought to by no means have spent a single day in detention.

“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,” Miranda stated.

In a press release, her husband stated they have been grateful Medina “finally got the justice she deserved.” “My children and I will be complete with my wife at home. Truly, I have no words to describe how happy we are,” he added.

US Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, additionally launched a press release in help of Medina’s release. Bonamici had visited Medina in Tacoma and had advocated for her release.

“I’m grateful that Maria will finally be home with her family and will begin to recover from the anxiety caused by this egregious ICE overreach. Like too many others across the country, Maria has had her life completely disrupted by the President’s illegal and aggressive tactics. I will continue to fight these inhumane policies and actions with policy and protest and in the legal system,” Bonamici stated.

Medina’s immigration case stays on enchantment.

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and fairness points. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.comon X @DianneLugoor Bluesky @diannelugo.bsky.social.

This article initially appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Federal judge orders release of Oregon mom in ICE detention