Immigrants who have been granted release from detention after winning habeas corpus petitions in court are being re-arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ([ICE](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement)). The Guardian has identified at least 20 cases nationwide relating to people who were detained after being released on habeas corpus petition in the last year, according to court records, attorneys and media reports. Increasing [arrests and detentions](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/aug/29/trump-immigration-ice-cbp-data) have led to immigrants filing more than 91,000 habeas petitions as they seek to challenge their detentions, according to research [by ProPublica](https://projects.propublica.org/habeas-tracker/). More petitions have been filed since 25 January than during the past three presidential administrations, including Trump’s first term, combined, the outlet found. A petition of habeas corpus – Latin for “you shall have a body” – challenges in a federal court the government’s right to hold someone in custody while their main legal case is proceeding. But in a new development, people are winning their release only to find themselves quickly detained again. “We’ve seen a very, very sharp increase in people who are released on habeas petitions, only to be very rapidly re-detained, often in violation of the federal court’s order,” said Bridget Pranzatelli, an attorney with the National Immigration Project. One of her clients,** **Akram Mahmoud Omar, a 77-year-old Palestinian man who suffered a heart attack while detained in “Camp 57”, the ICE detention facility within Louisiana’s [notorious state prison](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/18/louisiana-angola-prison-trump-ice-immigration) in Angola, was arrested again by ICE within 10 days of being released following a habeas petition, as first [reported](https://theintercept.com/2026/06/10/ice-deport-elderly-palestinian-immigrant/) by the Intercept. And in Minnesota, seven immigrants were re-detained before even exiting the Whipple federal building detention facility on the outskirts of Minneapolis, as first [reported](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/27/minnesota-immigration-rearrest-case-judge-threatens-ice-with-contempt-sanctions) by MPR. ... Courts are taking notice. In an October [ruling](https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/files/opinions/010111530610.pdf), the 10th US circuit court of appeals in Colorado** **denied the government’s attempt to dismiss a habeas petition on the grounds that they had the power to re-detain the petitioner. The government had a previous “demonstrated pattern of re-detaining” non-citizens who had been granted habeas relief, according to the court. In Louisiana, in the case of another client of Pranzatelli,** **a federal judge** **held a senior federal immigration official in contempt of court for violating orders, demanding Ibrahim Mohammed’s release after he had been re-arrested three times by ICE**, **as first [reported](https://www.thebanner.com/community/local-news/ice-unlawful-arrest-court-contempt-XL43TXX2PFD4NI6GVO3OYPJQYE/) by the Banner. Two other federal judges, in [Pennsylvania](https://www.courthousenews.com/federal-immigration-officials-held-in-contempt-for-disobeying-court-orders/) and [Minnesota](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/02/24/judge-finds-government-in-contempt-orders-ice-to-repay-man-for-flight-home-from-texas), have also held federal immigration authorities in contempt or threatened to do so. Attorneys believe that certain re-detentions are connected to the Trump administration’s push to deport people [to third countries](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/21/what-is-trump-third-country-deportation-policy). ... The [Trump administration](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration) is increasingly sending immigrants who cannot be removed to their home countries, either because the country will not accept them or they have protections from being deported there, to another country entirely, where they don’t hold citizenship and often have no ties. In the past, these immigrants were essentially safe from deportation. ... More than 25,000 non-citizens [have been deported](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/21/what-is-trump-third-country-deportation-policy) from the US to countries that are not their own, despite potentially facing torture or persecution. Often, they are being incarcerated in prisons or detained in secured hotels and pressured to return to their home countries, which human rights experts say [violates](https://www.hrw.org/report/2026/10/08/to-scare-people/us-expulsions-of-third-country-nationals-to-countries-in-africa) the Convention Against Torture. ... In the current political climate, attorneys are eager for judges to grant habeas petitions that prevent the government from easily re-detaining and deporting a client. ... In September, an appeals court ruled that the Trump administration had to provide sufficient notice of third-country deportations and allow immigrants to contest their removals. Shortly after, the six-justice conservative majority of the supreme court [granted an emergency stay ](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/29/trump-immigration-deport-migrants-third-country)of the ruling, allowing the Trump administration to continue quickly deporting immigrants to third countries, without issuing an explanation. Additionally, some immigrants facing third country removals who won withholding of removal are now eligible for asylum [after a court overruled a Biden-era policy](https://immigrantjustice.org/for-attorneys/resources/ebsc-v-trump-an-explainer-for-advocates-on-vacatur-of-the-circumvention-of-lawful-pathways-rule/) prohibiting most people who crossed the [US-Mexico border](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-mexico-border) unlawfully from obtaining asylum. ... Yet many people are being re-arrested with no apparent plans for deportation, leaving them stranded in detention indefinitely. Courts are also taking months to adjudicate the thousands of habeas cases, particularly in Louisiana and Texas where many detention centers are located, according to an [analysis](https://boltsmag.org/louisiana-immigration-detention-habeas-crisis/) by Bolts and New Orleans-based outlet the Lens, and the [Texas Tribune](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/04/texas-immigrants-deportation-cases-habeas-corpus-detention/). And the fear of re-detention risks further trauma for their clients and families, attorneys say.