Northern District of Illinois Grants Habeas Corpus for Unaccompanied Minor Detained After Release to Sponsor

The court ordered the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services to release the minor, identified in the docket as E.F.E.L., back to the custody of his brother within 72 hours.

The dispute centers on the treatment of unaccompanied alien children under federal law. Under the Homeland Security Act, the Department of Homeland Security must transfer custody of such minors to the Office of Refugee Resettlement within seven hours of apprehension. ORR is then tasked with placing the child in the least restrictive setting in their best interest, typically releasing them to a qualified sponsor.

E.F.E.L. entered the United States in January 2025 at age 14. ORR determined he posed no danger or flight risk and released him to his brother in Tennessee after the brother passed background checks and DNA testing. The minor lived with his brother and attended school until December 2025.

On December 1, 2025, immigration agents detained E.F.E.L. at a gas station near his home. The minor presented a Verification of Release card proving he had been processed through ORR and was lawfully in his sponsor’s custody. Despite this, agents transferred him back to ORR custody, first to a facility in Chicago and then to one in Pennsylvania.

The court found that the government provided zero justification for the rearrest. The judge noted that the sole reason for the initial arrest—lack of lawful immigration status—had not changed. Detaining the minor again on the same basis, after ORR had already determined he did not need to be held, was unreasonable.

The opinion cites established precedent that a person cannot be rearrested on the same charge on which they were originally arrested after being released. The court emphasized that due process requires notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard before a child is separated from their family and community.

The court also rejected the government’s argument that the minor’s brother must submit a new sponsorship application under updated rules. The new Foundational Rule requires sponsors to present U.S.-issued identification, a requirement the brother could not meet. The judge ruled that the TVPRA does not mandate a new evaluation for a sponsor already deemed suitable.

Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman wrote that the government’s actions appeared to be a "gross weaponization of the ORR process" to further immigration enforcement efforts. She noted that the TVPRA is designed to provide extra protections to vulnerable minors, and the government’s approach contradicted that purpose.

The order requires the parties to identify a time and place for the minor’s counsel to retrieve him from ORR custody within 24 hours. The minor must be returned to his brother’s custody within 72 hours, with a joint status report filed within five days.