A transgender asylum seeker from Mexico, identified in court filings as O.J.M., has been released after spending 43 days in immigration detention. She was arrested in early June, just after attending an asylum hearing at the Portland Immigration Court, and was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
O.J.M. is one of many asylum seekers arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration — a policy critics argue subverts due process. In one related case, a gay makeup artist seeking asylum was deported and imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in El Salvador after being wrongly accused of gang affiliation. He has since been released.
On July 14, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio ordered O.J.M.’s release, ruling that the government had deprived her of liberty without procedural due process.
Baggio found that the government had deliberately misled O.J.M. into agreeing to dismiss her asylum case — a tactic in line with Trump administration goals — after an immigration judge told her that ICE would not seek her deportation.
“O.J.M. was affirmatively misinformed” and even “talked out of her concern” over the dismissal of her case, Baggio wrote in her ruling, noting that ICE agents were waiting outside the courtroom to arrest her. She found the detention illegal and said the Department of Homeland Security had abused its power.
“They arrested first,” Baggio said of Homeland Security, the department that oversees ICE. “They sought to justify later and then they changed the alleged basis for the alleged detention.”
O.J.M. fled Mexico and crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in September 2023, two years after she was abducted and raped by members of the Knights Templar Cartel because of her gender identity. She sought asylum and complied with all directives throughout the process, including multiple check-ins and court appearances at ICE offices.
On June 2, O.J.M. was summoned to appear in Immigration Court in Portland, where the government moved to dismiss her asylum application. Baggio contends that Immigration Judge Steve Caley and a lawyer for Homeland Security allegedly railroaded the 24-year-old — without a lawyer present to argue on her behalf or clearly explain the situation, according to The Oregonian.
Displaying a rough transcript of the immigration hearing on a large video screen, Baggio said it was clear the immigration judge had met with the Homeland Security lawyer ahead of the hearing.
According to the transcript, Caley told O.J.M. during the hearing that if her case was dismissed, Homeland Security would not seek to remove her from the United States. O.J.M. initially said she didn’t want the case dismissed and wished to continue the asylum process. But she changed her mind after Caley allegedly assured her that she would not be deported to Mexico if she accepted the dismissal.
Baggio asked Ariana Garousi, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, whether Homeland Security had informed Judge Caley that federal agents were waiting to detain O.J.M.
Garousi responded that she was “unaware of that.” When Baggio asked whether the Homeland Security lawyer at the hearing knew O.J.M. would be arrested afterward, Garousi replied affirmatively.
Baggio noted that Homeland Security gave shifting justifications for seeking O.J.M.’s deportation, even though she had the right to appeal the dismissal and Caley’s ruling wasn’t final for 30 days. She also criticized the government for allowing ICE agents to approach O.J.M. in custody with paperwork intended to persuade her to waive her right to a bond hearing.
Baggio said government officials knew O.J.M. had legal representation but still confronted her without a lawyer present — even after she told them she couldn’t read, which Baggio said “smacks of more unfairness.”
In finding that the government violated O.J.M.’s right to due process, Baggio cited an April 2025 U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding that the Constitution guarantees due process to every person in the United States, regardless of citizenship.
“There’s a right way to do this and there’s a wrong way,” she said. “The government unquestionably went about its arrest and detention of O-J-M in the wrong way.”
The nonprofit Innovation Law Lab, which represents O.J.M., celebrated that she is “now home with her family” following her release from the ICE facility — even as the group condemned her imprisonment in a men’s facility and the government’s unlawful actions, as outlined in Baggio’s ruling.
“President Trump’s anti-transgender executive order forced her into a men’s facility, and into solitary confinement for her own safety, adding layers of cruelty to an already unconstitutional detention,” Innovation Law Lab said in an Instagram post.
“O.J.M. was detained for over a month simply for legally seeking asylum,” the post reads. “Seeking asylum is lawful, and a human right.”
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were upstaged by a gaggle of drag queens at the Kennedy Center Opera House during a performance of the French Revolution-set hit musical Les Misérables on Wednesday, June 11.
The couple’s appearance -- Trump’s first of the term at the historic venue -- coincided with a special fundraising night aimed at supporting the reportedly financially struggling arts institution.
According to the The Washington Post, ticket sales have slumped following Trump’s takeover of the storied institution, long considered a cornerstone of D.C.’s theater scene. Subscriptions for the upcoming season are down by $1.6 million -- roughly 36% -- compared to last year.
State has 10 days to ban transgender athletes from girls’ teams or risk losing federal education funding, under a Title IX ultimatum from the Education Department.
The Trump administration has issued an ultimatum to the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation, demanding they ban transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams.
In a June 25 announcement, the U.S. Department of Education said California’s policy allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' teams violates Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational institutions.
The department also proposed a resolution requiring California to bar transgender athletes from girls' sports teams and revoke any records, titles, or awards they’ve received. It further calls on the state to send personalized apology letters to female athletes who were denied honors or recognition after being displaced by a transgender competitor.
When J. Ahmir "Ricky" Vines was in elementary school, growing up with a single mom, he would get in trouble with his teachers for scribbling lyrics during class. Eventually, realizing that his lyrical prowess could earn him some extra money, he began selling lyrics to local rappers in his town and stashing the extra cash in a shoebox.
"There's a big underground music culture in North Carolina," says the Winston-Salem native. "I would sell these lyrics to these older kids and these young rapper guys around the city."
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