Alejandro* has been released from detention and is now home with his family!

Alejandro came to the United States in August 2021 seeking safety. As a gay man from Venezuela, he fled years of discrimination and persecution based on his sexual orientation and his political opposition to the Maduro regime, hoping to build a stable life free from fear.

After arriving, Alejandro settled in North Carolina, where he began the asylum process. He did everything the government asked of him—checking in with ICE once a year, working, paying taxes, and building a meaningful life in his community. He lived with his partner and cared for his elderly mother, who also fled Venezuela and now lives nearby with Alejandro’s sister. 

That life was abruptly torn apart in January 2026. 

At what should have been a routine ICE check-in, Alejandro was suddenly detained. Nothing about his circumstances had changed. The reason ICE gave was arbitrary and bureaucratic: years earlier, the government itself had failed to file the paperwork formally placing him in immigration court. Under a new administration determined to expand detention at all costs, that mistake was now being used to jail him—without any chance to ask a judge for release. 

Alejandro’s immigration attorney, Ginky-Lee Torres-Lespier, contacted Amica Center after learning the organization was challenging unlawful detention through federal habeas petitions. Amica Center quickly stepped in, and a federal judge ordered the immigration court to hold a bond hearing for Antonio. 

But the bond hearing he received was a sham. 

Alejandro’s attorney submitted more than 500 pages of evidence showing he was not a flight risk. The Immigration Judge did not acknowledge reviewing the evidence and issued a brief denial, declaring Alejandro a “flight risk” and dismissing his asylum case as “speculative.” It was part of an unwritten “no bond” policy that has taken hold in immigration courts in Georgia and across the country, where immigration judges face intense pressure to deny release—or risk losing their jobs. 

Because Amica Center had already filed the habeas petition, the legal team was able to return to federal court and challenge what had happened. They argued that Alejandro was denied due process—that the immigration court had ignored the law and failed to give him a real hearing. 

The federal court agreed. 

In a powerful decision, the judge ordered a new bond hearing and ruled that the government had to prove he should remain detained. The government could not do so. At his next hearing, Alejandro was granted bond and released from detention. 

This decision marks the first known successful challenge in Georgia to these recurring sham bond hearings, sending a clear message: federal courts can step in when immigrants’ rights are violated. At a time when due process is under attack, the ruling affirms that accountability still exists. 

Now free, Alejandro is back in North Carolina, reunited with his partner and community. He is returning to work, caring for his mother, and continuing his asylum case. 

Georgia remains one of the toughest places in the country to fight for immigrants’ rights. But Alejandro’s case shows that justice is still possible when people don’t have to fight alone.  

Amica Center will continue standing alongside immigrants detained in the South and across the country who are being unlawfully denied their freedom. 

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*To protect the privacy of the people we work with, names, photos, and other identifying information have been changed.