After four months in ICE detention, a Venezuelan asylum seeker walked out to her husband, who was

After four months in ICE detention, a Venezuelan asylum seeker walked out to her husband, who was waiting for her with flowers. She had done everything right—arrived in the United States in 2021, applied for asylum, and checked in with immigration authorities for four years. None of that protected her when she was detained during a routine appointment just days after getting married. The government argued she was a flight risk, despite her recent marriage and strong family ties in Texas. She was denied bond and held in a room with sixty other detainees, without private bathrooms and with so little rest that she suffered multiple anxiety attacks. Her husband spent months trying everything to get her out—calling lawyers, media, former military contacts, and lawmakers. Nothing worked until an attorney filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court. That filing brought her case before a federal judge, who ruled that her due process rights had been violated and ordered her release. A habeas corpus petition takes a case out of the immigration system and places it before a federal judge with constitutional authority. It was the turning point in her case—and it remains a legal path available to others still in detention. I’m Brian Manning. If you need help with an asylum case or getting a loved one out of immigration detention, send the word “CONSULT” in a direct message.