A federal judge in Alexandria this week ordered the release of three young male immigrants from United States custody as part of a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.
In the case Sarmiento et al. v. Perry et al., it was announced Tuesday that two brothers from El Salvador, ages 19 and 20, were ordered to be released by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Trenga, following their ICE arrests in Stafford County this past August.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a class action lawsuit in Alexandria federal court today, alleging that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is unlawfully detaining young immigrants who have a legal pathway to citizenship — part of what the complaint describes as the Trump administration’s mass deportation strategy.
The lawsuit, filed in the Alexandria division of the Eastern District of Virginia at the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse, challenges ICE’s detention of unaccompanied minors who entered the United States after being abused, neglected, or abandoned by their parents — young people who federal law protects from detention.
