This case challenges the mandatory detention of Ousmane Savane, a 22-year-old asylum seeker, after his previously release on humanitarian parole.

Ousmane came to the United States to seek safety in 2023. He was initially detained by ICE, but later released on humanitarian parole when the government found that he was not a danger to the community or at risk of absconding from his immigration court hearings. Since then, Ousmane has attended all of his immigration court hearings as scheduled. But when he showed up to a court hearing on his asylum application in New York City on August 12, 2025, masked ICE agents arrested him and locked him in immigration detention in the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York.

What is the legal argument in this case?

By applying mandatory detention for persons seeking admission to the U.S. to Ousmane, a person who is not seeking admission at the border, ICE violates the plain language of 8 U.S.C. §1225(b), the mandatory detention statute.

ICE is also violating Ousmane’s constitutional rights. The U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment guarantees due process to all people at risk of a deprivation of liberty, regardless of immigration status. When the government detains someone, due process requires that detention bear a reasonable relationship to a legitimate purpose, like preventing a risk of flight.

Ousmane’s arrest and detention violate his right to due process because they are wholly unjustified. In the time Ousmane has lived in the United States, he has been neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk—evidenced by his dutiful appearance at his scheduled immigration court dates.

The U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment requires that a government seizure, like an arrest, have a reasonable justification. Ousmane was arrested and detained, along with countless others, not because they became suddenly dangerous or likely to abscond, but as part of a nationwide campaign to ambush people when they attend their immigration court hearings.

What is the status of this case?

On September 28, 2025, the district court found that ICE violated procedural due process under the Fifth Amendment by failing to give Ousmane any process before his re-detention—including the baseline procedural safeguards required by regulation.

The court assumed, without deciding, that Ousmane was properly classified a a person seeking admission at the border. But even then, regulation requires written notice prior to revocation of a grant of parole. ICE never gave Ousmane that notice. And there was no indication that the government gave Ousmane’s custody any individualized assessment prior to arresting him.

The court ordered Ousmane released from detention. The decision provides authority for a rule that can protect thousands of people previously released from arbitrary re-detention.

June 12, 2025