FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2026
Contact
Lilly Gonzalez, media@nipnlg.org
BATON ROUGE, LA — Today, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana ordered the immediate release—within three hours—of four men who were unlawfully re-detained after living for months and years in their communities and faithfully checking in with ICE. The petitioners were represented by the National Immigration Project and Rights Behind Bars. This order represents the first major ruling on the recent expansion in immigration detention in the Middle District of Louisiana.
The judge held that ICE failed to provide any meaningful explanation for why the men were re-detained; failed to show that deportation was likely to happen in the foreseeable future; and failed to give the men any real opportunity to challenge their re-detention, all in flagrant violation of due process as required by ICE’s own regulations.
“We are overjoyed that our clients were able to walk out today to rejoin their families and communities after spending many needless months in detention,” said Bridget Pranzatelli, staff attorney at the National Immigration Project. “While we are heartened to see the court take the harms they have endured so seriously, we cannot ignore the broader context here: ICE deliberately opened an immigration detention center at a prison notorious for its history of racism and for its ongoing use of forced labor that mirrors and replicates some of the darkest chapters of our nation’s history. It is far past time for this detention center to be shut down for good.”
The case involved four men who had been previously released by ICE because the agency determined they were not flight risks, posed no danger to the community, and were likely to comply with any conditions of their release. The men who were released today include: a 72-year-old man who has lived in the U.S. for 45 years and suffers from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases; a 61-year-old man brought to the U.S. as a child in 1973; a 66-year-old man who has lived in the U.S. for 59 years; and a 43-year-old man granted protection under the Convention Against Torture.
“This case is part of a clear national pattern,” said Lillian Novak, an attorney at Rights Behind Bars. “Courts are recognizing that ICE is stripping people of their liberty without due process, revoking release without explanation, without cause, and without following the law. Our clients are four among many people being unjustly swept back into detention through this unlawful practice.”
All four men were re-detained in the summer of 2025—three after reporting to routine ICE check-ins, and one after ICE officers came to his home. They have been held for months at the immigration detention center (now referred to as “Camp 57”) in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola, despite ICE’s longstanding inability to deport them. The ruling places the Middle District of Louisiana among a growing number of federal courts across the country rejecting ICE’s recent practice of re-detaining people who had long been living in their communities under supervision, without evidence that deportation is actually possible.
The four men were released early this afternoon and will soon be back with their communities and loved ones.
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The National Immigration Project is a membership organization of attorneys, advocates, and community members who believe that all people should be treated with dignity, live freely, and flourish. We litigate, advocate, educate, and build bridges across movements to ensure that those most impacted by the immigration and criminal systems are uplifted and supported. Learn more at nipnlg.org. Follow the National Immigration Project on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads at @NIPNLG.
Rights Behind Bars works alongside incarcerated people to challenge the cruel and inhumane conditions of confinement in American jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers.