Trump-appointed judge orders 'convicted criminal' to be released due to Trump administration's courtroom incompetence

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Law & Crime

May 27th, 2026, 7:50 am


A federal judge in Florida ordered the Trump administration to release a man previously ordered deported — some 22 years ago — due to the government's apparent incompetence and tardiness. The six-page order highlights an increasing problem the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has had as massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) dragnets have maxed out the capacity of government agents, lawyers, and immigration judges.

In the case, Mauricio Castellanos-Gorra, a Cuban national, won habeas corpus relief by convincing U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek, who was appointed by Trump last year, that his detention is unlawful and he "is therefore entitled to release from ICE custody" within 48 hours.

But the petitioner's courtroom victory was not a foregone conclusion — indeed it comes as something of a stark break from the wellspring of habeas cases filed in the past 10 months as judges have almost uniformly shut down controversial efforts to reshape how ICE classifies certain immigrants in order to try to indefinitely detain them.

"The background of the dispute is straightforward," the court explains. "Castellanos-Gorra entered the United States in 1986 and became a lawful permanent resident. Following his conviction for lewd and lascivious assault against a minor, an immigration judge ordered his removal in 2004.". The judge does not say initially why, but notes that since Castellanos-Gorra is "a Cuban national…his actual deportation [was] unlikely at the time [and] ICE could not immediately effectuate his return."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/nothing-was-filed-trump-appointed-judge-orders-convicted-criminal-to-be-released-due-to-trump-administrations-courtroom-incompetence/

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Full headline: 'Nothing was filed': Trump-appointed judge orders 'convicted criminal' to be released due to Trump administration's courtroom incompetence

Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.456134/gov.uscourts.flmd.456134.13.0.pdf

[littlemissmartypants]

1. The crux of the matter:

"[T]his Court is bound by the law," the order goes on. "And the law is clear: the Government cannot lock individuals in a cell indefinitely as a workaround for a stalled deportation process, nor can it use indefinite detention simply to placate popular opinion. The Constitution cannot be ignored just because the facts are frustrating."