The Trump administration is accusing a Biden-appointed judge of “promoting gender ideology fanaticism” for releasing a transgender illegal migrant from detention.
U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio — appointed to the bench in Oregon by President Joe Biden — ordered the release of Odalis Jhonatan Martinez-Velasquez, a biological male from Mexico living unlawfully in the U.S., according to court documents. In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suggested Thursday that Baggio was caving to pressure from transgender and immigration activists.
“Velasquez — a biological male — was placed in a men’s facility in alignment with the President’s Executive Order and for the safety of women in ICE custody,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a public statement. “The President made it clear on Day One: DHS will not buy into radical gender ideology when detaining illegal aliens.”
“An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Odalis Jhonatan Martinez-Velasquez should be released or detained,” McLaughlin said of the order. “The activist judge is ignoring the biological reality of sex, undermining ICE’s commitment to promoting safe, secure, and humane environments for women in custody, and subverting the American people’s mandate to restore commonsense to our immigration system and reject extreme gender fanaticism.”
Velasquez, who identifies as a female, illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 and was later released by the Biden administration, according to DHS.
The transgender asylum seeker claims he was kidnapped in 2021 by members of the Knights Templar cartel in Mexico, held against his will and raped by several armed men because of his gender identity, according to court documents. Velasquez also identified as “functionally illiterate” to the court.
Immigration agents apprehended Velasquez on June 2 after he appeared before an immigration judge and agreed to let his case be dismissed, according to court documents. Officials then placed Velasquez into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center for males in Tacoma, Washington.
“I asked if they could give me a pair of sandals because it was difficult for me to walk in my heels with the ankle bracelets on,” the illegal migrant said in court documents about his apprehension. “They had me wait for some time; then agents returned and tried to get me to sign some papers.”
DHS says Velasquez’s placement into the male facility was under an executive order issued by President Donald Trump and in the interest of safety for women in ICE custody.
However, Baggio accused DHS of a “series of procedural errors” and claimed the Mexican national’s rights were violated, according to The Oregonian. The Biden judge ultimately ruled that Velasquez was duped about her case dismissal and that her 43-day stint in immigration custody was illegal.
“They arrested first. They sought to justify later and then they changed the alleged basis for the alleged detention,” the judge said from the bench, according to The Oregonian.
The case follows Trump’s widespread crackdown on illegal immigration and his goal to execute the largest deportation operation in history. However, the GOP president has continued to face immense roadblocks from the judicial branch.
Immediately upon returning to the White House in January, Trump signed Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, an executive order that, among other provisions, prohibits DHS from detaining biological men in female detention centers. DHS said Thursday that Velasquez “is no exception” to this policy.
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