Shot by ICE, torn from his family, still detained: advocates file federal habeas petition arguing ICE is unlawfully detaining Tiago Sousa Martins despite a court-ordered stay of removal, and his continued detention is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – A federal habeas petition filed yesterday challenges the Trump administration’s continued detention of Tiago Sousa Martins, whom it has been legally prohibited from deporting. We Are CASA and the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights announced the filing of a federal habeas petition seeking the immediate release of Tiago, a Maryland father who has remained in custody for more than six months after being shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during his arrest on Christmas Eve 2025.
The petition argues that once the Fourth Circuit stayed Tiago’s removal, ICE could no longer treat him as someone with a final removal order awaiting deportation. Instead, as his immigration case remains pending, the federal government has continued holding him without the protections the Fifth Amendment requires. The petition also argues that ICE has transformed civil immigration detention into unconstitutional punishment by repeatedly denying necessary medical care for the gunshot wounds inflicted during Tiago’s arrest. More than six months after the shooting, Tiago remains detained with painful bullet remnants lodged in his back. His attorneys say ICE has repeatedly denied or delayed medically necessary treatment, physical therapy, and mental health care while ignoring his request for release. Further, the petition contends that ICE has violated its own policies by failing to consider Tiago’s status as a trafficking survivor and his pending T-visa as factors favoring release.
Even after the federal judge overseeing his criminal case concluded that Tiago should not be further incarcerated, ICE has refused to release him from detention. During the sentencing hearing resulting from a plea deal, Federal Magistrate Judge Charles D. Austin said no additional time behind bars than what has “already been endured” was warranted. This was “a situation that resulted in a tragedy … it did not have to end where it ended,” Judge Austin concluded.
“ICE shot Tiago, continues to deny him adequate treatment for his injuries, and continues to hold him months later, despite a court order blocking his removal,” said Sam Hsieh, Deputy Program Director of the Immigration Impact Lab at Amica Center. “Civil immigration detention is not supposed to be a system of punishment, yet that is exactly what Tiago is experiencing every day he remains in detention.”
“The Constitution is clear: civil immigration detention cannot be punitive,” said Alice Barrett, Immigration Attorney, We Are CASA. “Tiago’s continued detention without bond, while he continues to be denied proper medical treatment for gunshot wounds inflicted by ICE, is nothing short of punitive retaliation. It violates immigration laws, agency policies, and a fundamental guarantee of our Constitution – that civil detention may never be used to punish.”
The petition raises broader constitutional questions about the limits of ICE’s detention authority when federal courts prohibit deportation and about widespread inhumane detention conditions and lack of medical care that have become rampant during the Trump administration, leading to record numbers of deaths in ICE custody.
This latest constitutional challenge follows months of scrutiny surrounding Tiago’s case. Earlier this year, an FBI affidavit revealed that ICE reportedly identified him after accessing Maryland motor vehicle records through a federal data-sharing system, exposing gaps in state privacy protections that helped spur passage of Maryland’s Data Privacy Act – a law that recently went into effect. Advocates argue the same case that exposed failures in data privacy now raises fundamental constitutional questions about the limits of civil immigration detention.