ICE rushes to deport Palestinian grandfather, regardless of choose’s order to free him
This story was printed in partnership with The Intercept, a newsroom dedicated to rigorous, adversarial journalism within the public curiosity.
Lower than two weeks in the past, in a scathing rebuke, a federal choose ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to launch a Louisiana grandfather who’d suffered a coronary heart assault whereas in ICE custody.
The person, Akram Mahmoud Omar, 77, lived within the U.S. for 50 years till ICE abruptly seized him throughout a routine check-in final October and shortly despatched him to “Camp 57,” the ICE detention camp inside the infamous state jail in Angola, Louisiana.
The stress of the poor situations there contributed to Omar’s coronary heart assault, in response to the habeas petition he filed in April. On Could 29, a federal choose discovered ICE had violated Omar’s constitutional rights and ordered his instant launch.
Then on Monday, simply 10 days after his launch, ICE seized Omar once more and tried to whisk the still-recovering man onto a deportation flight the subsequent morning, in response to his lawyer Ken Mayeaux.
Following an emergency movement from Mayeaux, the identical choose once more ordered ICE to launch Omar and cautioned the company to not make one other deportation try.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) shall IMMEDIATELY RELEASE Omar from ICE custody,” stated the Monday order from Choose Brian Jackson in Louisiana’s Center District. “ICE shall not RE-DETAIN or REMOVE Omar from america throughout the pendency of Omar’s Emergency Movement to Implement the Courtroom’s Could 29 Order.”
Within the Could order, the choose discovered that ICE had violated Omar’s constitutional rights by unlawfully detaining him and denying him the possibility to arrange for an orderly departure.
ICE immediately defied that order by seizing him with out warning for instant deportation, the emergency movement alleges, blocking him from arranging his affairs and even saying goodbye, the emergency movement for Omar’s launch stated.
“Petitioner’s re-detention and deliberate elimination are in direct contempt of this Courtroom’s prior order,” reads the June 8 emergency movement. The federal government “lied to Mr. Omar, telling him and his household that he didn’t have to report back to ICE/ERO” — ICE’s Enforcement and Elimination Operations division — “till December, however now, Respondent is racing to take away petitioner inside hours.”
In an announcement to The Lens and The Intercept, ICE spokesperson Angela Vicknair stated, “ICE complies with all courtroom orders, and any allegation {that a} choose’s orders weren’t adopted are categorically false.”
Federal courts at the moment are continually coping with flagrant violations of judicial orders by ICE, stated Bridget Pranzatelli, an lawyer with the Nationwide Immigration Undertaking.
“This degree of cruelty and disrespect for federal courts is the rule, not the exception,” stated Pranzatelli, who’s conversant in the case. “The Courtroom appeared on the complete file earlier than it and issued a well-reasoned resolution, which particularly mandated sure protections for this very aged, very sick man, and ICE ignored it.”
ICE’s actions in Omar’s case are additionally in keeping with the best way that the federal government is utilizing excessive measures to focus on Palestinians, Pranzatelli stated. Omar was born in Palestine earlier than the formation of the state of Israel and lived within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution. In 1975, he moved to the U.S. as a lawful everlasting resident.
“If In Truth He Survives the Flight”
After his launch final month, Omar attended his common ICE check-in on the primary Wednesday in June; his subsequent check-in can be in December, he was advised. However final Friday, he acquired a letter telling him to report back to an ICE workplace on Monday morning, June 8.
After Omar acquired the letter, Mayeaux emailed the ICE workplace in Bossier Metropolis, Louisiana, the place Omar lives, warning immigration officers that “any tried elimination of Mr. Omar in June can be in direct contempt of the Courtroom Order,” in response to a replica of the e-mail included with the movement. “I’m instructing my shopper to not report as requested.”
As an alternative, on Monday, ICE got here to Omar’s dwelling and arrested him once more. Omar’s spouse instantly referred to as Mayeaux. Solely hours later did ICE inform Omar’s household he was being taken almost two hours away, to an ICE staging space for deportation flights, and can be placed on a airplane the subsequent morning to Israel.
By early afternoon, Mayeux had filed the emergency movement.
His shopper’s well being, Mayeux wrote within the emergency movement, was his fundamental concern. Omar remains to be recovering from his April coronary heart assault and open-heart surgical procedure. His spouse advised the arresting ICE officer that she was planning to take Omar to a heart specialist later that day, and that he couldn’t transfer properly.
Based on the submitting, a health care provider was ready to testify that the roughly 14-hour flight with out medical clearance raised critical issues about Omar’s well being, “if in actual fact he survives the flight.”
“Heartless and Merciless”
Omar had been within the U.S. for 50 years when ICE picked him up in Mississippi throughout a routine check-in final fall. There was no readily obvious trigger: ICE had lengthy identified about two minor, nonviolent convictions, one in 2005 and one in 2022, however Omar had lived within the U.S. for years underneath ICE supervision and had complied with required immigration check-ins.
“Extremely, regardless of these undisputed info, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) considers Omar to be each a ‘flight threat’ and a ‘precedence for elimination,” stated the Could launch order from Jackson, a federal choose in Baton Rouge. “Omar has been held in ICE detention since October 28, 2025 — 7 full months — endlessly.”
Jackson dominated that ICE needed to abide by its personal laws: If ICE have been to deport him, the company wanted to provide him advance discover, a motive, a chance for an orderly departure, and an off-the-cuff interview to answer ICE’s deportation efforts.
ICE didn’t serve Omar’s counsel with discover till he was already again in ICE custody.
“The Discover additionally makes a mockery of the Courtroom’s Order,” says Mayeaux’s June 8 emergency movement. “It was solely after he was taken again into custody — in contravention of the Courtroom’s Order — that he was knowledgeable of the existence of the journey doc and of his imminent elimination.”
However even at that time, the movement alleged, ICE didn’t give Omar the possibility to talk immediately with counsel.
The courtroom had additionally directed ICE to facilitate communication with Omar’s medical doctors and household “to make sure probably the most environment friendly and efficient continuation of his required medical therapy upon his launch.”
ICE seems to have violated most of Jackson’s orders when its brokers re-detained Omar. Even when ICE SUVs confirmed up at his door to convey him to the Bossier Metropolis discipline workplace, the brokers continued to say that it was solely a routine check-in. Not till lower than 24 hours earlier than the flight departed have been relations advised he was being deported.
Once more, an order from Jackson mandated Omar’s instant launch. ICE brokers returned him to his dwelling round 7 p.m. Monday night — leaving his household relieved, however shaken.
“They’re all fully traumatized,” Mayeaux stated of his shopper’s household.
Whereas ICE’s letter final week had made him suspicious, he stated, “I couldn’t consider they might be so heartless and merciless as to do that to a 77-year-old man who’s ailing. I simply didn’t.”
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