Through their attorneys, they're using an old legal maneuver to pursue their cases in federal court. It's a legal filing created in the 1700s, and immigration attorneys tell ABC 7 it's still effective today and one of the only tools they have available right now.
The problem? It often takes money to hire an attorney familiar with the federal court system.
It's called a habeas corpus petition. In Latin, it means, "You have the body." It allows immigrants in detention to be released and forces ICE to justify their imprisonment in federal court.
For example, when Columbia student Ellie Aghayeve was detained by ICE at her off-campus apartment in February, her attorney filed one.
7 On Your Side Investigates has interviewed multiple immigrants released from ICE custody.
"Como te sientes ahora?" said Dan Krauth, asking a man from the Dominican Republic how he feels.
"No soy criminal," he said. Meaning, "I'm not a criminal."
He was detained during a routine check-in with ICE. The man was released after his attorney filed a habeas corpus petition.
We also spoke with an undocumented immigrant from Peru.
"You feel like there's a target on your back?" Krauth asked him.
"There's a target, yes," said the man.
He was reunited with his wife after his attorney filed a habeas corpus petition as well.
"This is something that we've been attacking at the federal courts," said immigration attorney Veronica Cardenas.
Michael DiRaimondo is all too familiar with habeas. As a former Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, he handled over 400 habeas corpus petitions. Today, as defense attorney for immigrants, he says it's one of the few things to get somebody out of detention.
"Absolutely," said DiRaimondo.
Non-citizens are being detained locally at facilities like Delaney Hall in New Jersey.
"In your 46 years of doing this, have you ever seen so many detentions?" asked Krauth.
"Never. Never, and the numbers are astronomical," said DiRaimondo.
"When people are detained, it's more likely that they'll leave voluntarily," said Cardenas.
DiRaimondo suspects the detentions by ICE are part of a bigger plan.
"I think it's to make them miserable, put them in a terrible county jail with terrible food and an environment to make them miserable, so that they want to leave," said DiRaimondo.
The attorneys say they're forcing their cases out of immigration court and into federal court by filing the habeas petitions.
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Immigration Court falls under the Executive Branch. After a habeas corpus petition is filed, the case lands in the Judicial Branch, in federal court.
It's an effort to pause the process and get their clients released until a judge can review the merit of the case.
"So, the numbers are increasing; I've never seen anything like this," DiRaimondo said.
7 On Your Side Investigates analyzed the amount of petition filings in the Tri-State area.
In 2024, 41 were filed throughout all three states. That number increased 1,641%, to 714 habeas filings last year.
In the first three months of this year, it jumped by another 130%, from 714 to 1,646 petitions filed.
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"It's good because people are challenging the detention," said DiRaimondo. "The problem with it is, it's expensive. You have to hire an attorney that knows federal court proceedings."
There's a huge increase in filings nationwide as well. According to ProPublica, "Immigrants filed more habeas cases in the first 13 months of the second Trump administration than in the past three administrations combined, including his first."
Another concern: the caseload at the federal level.
"I don't know if the federal courts are going to be able to handle the magnitude of this."
The petitions have to be filed where the person is detained, not where they live. In many cases, the non-citizens are taken to different states, so attorneys must be able to practice law in multiple jurisdictions.
The Department of Homeland Security responded to our findings in a statement:
"ICE complies with all court orders when it receives sufficient notice to do so. Significant judicial overreach around the country has caused the number of orders ICE is receiving to reach unprecedented levels. ICE will continue to work with the Department of Justice to improve its compliance procedures as it also works to overrule these activist rulings in appellate courts.
No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States. Additionally, it should come as no surprise that more habeas petitions are being filed by illegal aliens, especially after many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people's mandate.
President Trump and Secretary Mullin are now enforcing the law and arresting illegal aliens who have no right to be in our country, and reversed Biden's catch and release policy. We are applying the law as written. If an immigration judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period."
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