ICE re-detained and moved to deport Palestinian grandfather in defiance of federal release order
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-arrested Akram Mahmoud Omar, a 77-year-old Louisiana resident, at his home on June 8, 2026, and moved to place him on a deportation flight, ten days after a federal judge had ordered his release and found his prior detention unconstitutional. Omar's attorney filed an emergency motion the same day, and the judge again ordered ICE to release him, which it did that evening.
Actors
On June 8, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at the Bossier City, Louisiana home of Akram Mahmoud Omar, a 77-year-old Palestinian grandfather who has lived in the United States for 50 years, and re-detained him despite a standing federal court order barring his re-detention or removal. ICE agents told Omar it was a routine check-in, then took him roughly two hours away to a staging area for deportation flights and informed his family only hours later that he would be put on a flight to Israel the next morning. The re-detention came just ten days after U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson of Louisiana's Middle District had ordered Omar's immediate release, finding that ICE had violated his constitutional rights by unlawfully detaining him for seven months at "Camp 57," an ICE detention wing inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, where poor conditions contributed to a heart attack Omar suffered while in custody.
Omar's attorney, Ken Mayeaux, filed an emergency motion the same day arguing that the re-detention and planned removal were "in direct contempt" of the court's May 29 order, and that ICE had told Omar he would not need to report again until December before reversing course and racing to deport him within hours. Judge Jackson again ordered ICE to immediately release Omar and barred the agency from re-detaining or removing him while the emergency motion was pending; ICE returned Omar to his home that evening. An ICE spokesperson said the agency "complies with all court orders" and disputed any suggestion otherwise. An attorney with the National Immigration Project, not involved in the case, said such violations of judicial orders by ICE have become routine rather than exceptional.
Why we recorded this
Rule of law depends on the executive branch obeying federal court orders, even when it disagrees with them. Here, a judge had already found ICE violated a detainee's constitutional rights and ordered his release; ICE responded by re-detaining the same man without warning and moving to put him on a deportation flight before the court could intervene again. Executive agencies defying standing judicial orders erode the judiciary's check on executive power and leave court rulings meaningless unless re-litigated under emergency pressure.
Sources
- ICE Defied Direct Order From Federal Judge and Re-Detained Elderly Palestinian — The Intercept primary accessed July 6, 2026
- ICE defies federal judge by re-detaining elderly Louisiana man, rushing him to deportation flight — The Lens (New Orleans) investigative accessed July 6, 2026
See also
- Judge found ICE materially violated Colorado injunction restricting warrantless immigration arrests
- AP investigation found DHS and ICE re-separated dozens of children from parents in violation of 2023 court settlement
- ICE deports Adelanto hunger-strike organizer Kyon Swaso to Belize after no-notice out-of-state transfers
- ICE arrested two immigrants at New York City immigration courts in defiance of federal court orders, including a June 23 nationwide ban
- ICE arrested Guatemalan man at New York City immigration court in defiance of federal court orders, including a June 23 nationwide ban
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