Rolquis Torres Ricardo, a Cuban national paroled into the United States on January 10, 2014, was convicted of lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor on July 28, 2016, and of domestic violence on April 5, 2017. An immigration judge ordered him removed on May 1, 2017. ICE was unable to execute the removal order and released him under an order of supervision on July 25, 2017. Nearly nine years later, ICE arrested him at his home on January 13, 2026, and he is currently detained at Alligator Alcatraz.

Torres Ricardo filed a habeas petition arguing his continued detention violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Fifth Amendment. The government responded that the petition was premature because his current detention had not yet exceeded 180 days — effectively arguing the six-month clock reset upon his re-arrest.

The court rejected that position as inconsistent with Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001). Citing Akinwale v. Ashcroft, 287 F.3d 1050 (11th Cir. 2002), the court held that the presumptively reasonable six-month period commences at the beginning of the removal period — not at each new arrest. Allowing resets, the court reasoned, would effectively allow DHS to detain noncitizens indefinitely and avoid judicial scrutiny by releasing and re-detaining them every 180 days.

Applying the Zadvydas burden-shifting framework, the court held that Torres Ricardo carried his initial burden: the government had been unable to remove him in 2017, no change in circumstances makes removal more likely now, and ICE has provided no plan or timeline for removal since his arrest. The government offered no rebuttal.

The petition was not granted outright, however. The court noted that community protection — a second statutory justification for immigration detention — does not necessarily diminish in force over time, and that the Supreme Court has upheld preventive detention based on dangerousness only when limited to specially dangerous individuals and subject to strong procedural protections. Given Torres Ricardo's criminal history, the court ordered ICE to conduct a custody review within 30 days to determine whether his continued detention is necessary to protect the community, with supplemental briefing to follow.

The habeas petition remains under advisement pending that review.