Jesus Rodriguez-Torres, a Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. since 1999, was taken into ICE custody in December 2025 during a scheduled check-in appointment after previously being released on bond. Rodriguez-Torres, who is married to a U.S. citizen, has a U.S. citizen child, owns a business employing five people, and has never been convicted of any crime, filed for asylum in 2019 and has never missed an ICE appointment.
Judge Goettel found that Rodriguez-Torres had established a likelihood of success on his procedural due process claim, noting that because he had previously been granted release on bond, he had "a protected liberty interest in his continued freedom." Applying the Mathews v. Eldridge test, the judge determined that Rodriguez-Torres was entitled to a pre-deprivation hearing at which the government would have to show that changed circumstances justified revoking his liberty.
The government initially did not oppose Rodriguez-Torres' temporary restraining order request in March, leading Judge Goettel to grant the TRO and order his immediate release. After his release, ICE argued the case was moot, but the judge rejected this argument, finding that the temporary nature of the relief and lack of binding assurances from the government meant "there may still be a live controversy as to any remaining requests for relief."
The preliminary injunction provides Rodriguez-Torres with ongoing protection against re-detention without proper procedural safeguards while his underlying habeas petition proceeds. The ruling joins several similar decisions in the Central District of California rejecting government mootness arguments in immigration detention cases where petitioners seek prospective relief beyond immediate release.