In a sharp courtroom rebuke of federal immigration detention, a Louisiana judge has ordered the release of Britania Uriostegui Rios, a transgender immigrant who was wrongly deported to Mexico last year and then locked back up in the United States.
On Thursday, March 26, 2026, Judge Jerry Edwards Jr. ruled that the government could not keep Rios in immigration custody indefinitely when it had no realistic way to deport her. Her case has turned into a closely watched flashpoint in a growing wave of habeas fights over prolonged ICE detention across Louisiana.
Edwards signed an order directing federal officials to free Rios after finding immigration authorities had shown "no visible progress" toward removing her since January, according to NOLA.com. Her attorneys argued that she was being held unlawfully after being returned to U.S. custody, and that the government could not justify keeping her locked up while it shopped for a country willing to take her. Court records show multiple third countries had already refused to accept her, undercutting ICE’s claim that her deportation was on the horizon.
How She Was Wrongly Deported
Federal filings reveal that the Justice Department itself admitted Rios was "inadvertently" deported to Mexico in November, acknowledging the mistake and telling the court ICE was prepared to "remedy" it by allowing her to reenter voluntarily, as reported by The Guardian. Instead of any orderly process, her lawyers say Rios was shuffled from a Louisiana detention facility to Texas and then placed on a bus to Tijuana with no money, no medication, and no phone.
Her legal team eventually tracked her down in Tijuana and rushed to federal court, filing lawsuits demanding that she be returned to the United States and released from custody. That litigation set the stage for the habeas battle that ultimately led to Thursday’s release order.
Legal Fight and Habeas Petition
Attorneys for Rios argued in a series of habeas petitions that keeping her locked up violated the Constitution once it was clear her removal was not reasonably foreseeable, according to the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center. The group’s case summary notes that an immigration judge granted Rios protection under the Convention Against Torture in March 2025. Even after that protection decision, the government resisted her release while it searched for other countries that might be willing to accept her.
Her legal team pointed to the government’s own filings, which documented failed efforts to deport her to multiple countries, as proof that there was no imminent, lawful removal on the table. That record, they argued, stripped ICE of any legal basis to keep Rios in a Louisiana lockup while officials chased theoretical deportation options.
Broader Legal Stakes
The fight over Rios’ detention is part of a much larger battle over how far the government can push immigration custody in Louisiana. Federal judges across the state have repeatedly ordered detainees released when ICE cannot show that deportation is realistically in sight, finding that indefinite detention runs afoul of due process.
In one February case, a federal order freed four people being held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary on those grounds, according to WAFB. Legal observers note that the Uriostegui Rios case, tracked in public court records, is emerging as a key test of how aggressively judges will police prolonged ICE custody going forward, as documented by Habeas Dockets.
Next Steps
Judge Edwards’ order requires the federal government to release Rios from the Louisiana detention facility, though officials could still try to appeal or rework their removal strategy, NOLA.com reports. Gov. Jeff Landry has blasted recent release orders as a threat to public safety, underscoring the political friction around immigration detention in the state.
Rios’ lawyers, meanwhile, say they plan to keep pressing for supervised release instead of any renewed detention if the government attempts to put her back in custody, signaling that the legal battle over her fate is not entirely over even as she walks out of lockup.
