February 23, 2026 | News
A federal court in Minnesota has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately release Michael Opeoluwa Egbele, a Nigerian immigrant who has been detained over what a judge called an “unlawful” revocation of his supervised release.
Senior U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard ruled on February 18, 2026, granting Mr. Egbele’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and directing the government to free him no later than February 20.
“The Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is granted,” the court stated, adding that ICE must release him under the conditions of his original supervision order and return any personal property seized during detention.
Mr. Egbele, who entered the United States unlawfully in 2003, had been placed on an order of supervision in 2012 after facing removal proceedings linked to a controlled substances charge. While an immigration judge denied his asylum claim and ordered his removal, the deportation was never carried out. For over a decade, he complied fully with supervision requirements.
In January 2026, during a routine check-in, Mr. Egbele was detained without prior notice of revocation. ICE claimed his supervision was revoked due to failure to obtain travel documents to Nigeria, but the court found no evidence he was ever informed of such a requirement before being arrested.
Following his detention, Mr. Egbele’s location was initially unknown to his family and attorneys, highlighting concerns over ICE’s handling of detainees. He was later moved to the Torrance County Detention Center in Estancia, New Mexico.
The government argued that the Minnesota court lacked jurisdiction since he was held in New Mexico. Judge Gerrard dismissed the claim, calling it “jurisdictional manipulation” and citing the “unknown custodian exception” due to his undisclosed location at the time the petition was filed.
On the merits, the judge rejected ICE’s justification that detention was lawful under federal removal statutes, noting that the petitioner’s due process rights had been violated. “Nothing in the brief even attempts to identify any change in circumstances that would warrant detention,” Judge Gerrard wrote, calling ICE’s action an “indiscriminate detention.”
The ruling is seen as a sharp rebuke of ICE’s treatment of long-term supervised release cases and reinforces that due process protections apply even for immigrants under final removal orders.
