Discussion
I spent all day on election activism. There’s a county clerk here who is interfering with duly appointed election watchers’ access to the polls. I was settling down for the evening, when I read this opinion and it reminded me of why I am working so hard to make sure the U.S. election is free and fair and the results are respected and implemented.
The opinion is an order to make ICE bring back a man they kidnapped and flew to Equatorial Guinea. The author is a Trump appointed judge. 1/ #LawFedi
Plaintiff is a green card holder originally brought to the U.S. as a child, from Egypt. He was convicted of a crime. On that basis ICE sought to have him removed back to Egypt. An immigration judge authorized removal but deferred removal to Egypt based on plaintiff’s credible fear of persecution there. 3/
He was placed in immigration detention. In April 2026, he filed for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking release from detention and protection from removal to a 3rd country without notice. 4/
Two days after plaintiff filed for habeas, before the court ruled, ICE forcibly put plaintiff on a plane to Equatorial Guinea, with no notice to him. Equatorial Guinea is a cesspool of human rights abuses. Along with others sent there by the Trump regime, A.M.A.S has been subject to physical and psychological torture. 5/
Install bonfire.cafe
Get the full app experience
Case is A.M.A.S. v. Markwayne Mullin. Full opinion at https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.azd.1518375/gov.uscourts.azd.1518375.14.0.pdf
Bottom line: the judge is furious that while a habeas petition was pending in his court, the Trump regime whisked the plaintiff onto an airplane with absolutely no notice of where he was being sent. This meant he had no opportunity to assert a credible fear of being packed off to Equatorial Guinea. 2/