(This story has been updated to include new information)

An Albany mom detained in Tacoma's Northwest Detention Center for four months was released May 8 after a federal judge in Washington ordered her release on May 7, finding that an immigration judge had violated Maria Loya Medina's constitutional due process rights when he denied her release on bond.

"No reasonable and impartial decision-maker presented with the facts and evidence of Petitioner’s case would conclude denial of bond was warranted," wrote Judge Grady J. Leupold.

Medina was detained by federal immigration agents on Jan. 10 in the parking lot of the Big 5 Sporting Goods store on Pacific Boulevard in Albany. Loya had just purchased socks for her son, who needed them for a soccer game that day. The agents were part of Operation Black Rose, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation that resulted in more than 1,000 arrests across Oregon in 2025.

Medina described in court records being surrounded by several ICE agents at the sporting goods store, and her son described being on FaceTime as she was detained. Agents smashed her car window.

Described in court documents as a cared-for and respected part of the Albany community, Medina has lived in the country since 2005 and has lived in Albany for seven years. She is married and the mother of two U.S. citizens: a 14-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.

She is also the primary caregiver for her husband, Serapio Herrera, who suffered a stroke in December 2025 and later also underwent heart surgery.

There are no criminal court records for Loya in Oregon. Her only run-in with the law before her arrest was when she attempted to enter the country in 1998 near Tijuana. She was briefly arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol and voluntarily returned to Mexico, her lawyers wrote.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security described Medina as an "illegal alien from Mexico" who was arrested in a "targeted vehicle stop." They repeated what they previously shared after lawyers filed a new petition for Medina's release on March 6: that she "chose to commit a felony and illegally re-enter the U.S. at an unknown location and date" and said she had received full due process.

The spokesperson also repeated a call for detainees to "take control" and self-deport.

Lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition on Loya's behalf on Jan. 14, arguing that her detention was unlawful and that she was entitled to a bond hearing. The petition was granted on Jan. 29. An immigration judge denied Medina bond after a hearing on Feb. 4 at the Tacoma Immigration Court.

Loya's lawyers had submitted a 69-page bond evidence packet to the immigration court, including evidence of a fixed address, strong community ties, her employment history, letters from her husband and teenage son, her marriage certificate, her son's transcript with straight-A grades, documentation of her husband's stroke, and letters of support from community members, her pastor and her husband's doctors.

The hearing took about 15 minutes, was not recorded, and provided insufficient live interpreting for Loya. She was declared a "Flight Risk" and denied bond and conditional release.

In his order, Leupold wrote that immigration Judge John O’Dell had strayed by relying on factors like Medina's prior immigration history from 1998 and her use of a false Social Security number for employment alone. The immigration judge also relied on her alleged conduct during her January 2026 arrest.

Leupold said the immigration judge did not indicate that Medina attempted to flee, threatened officers, engaged in violence, or otherwise took steps to evade arrest. Therefore, the immigration judge failed to explain "how this isolated conduct automatically demonstrated that Petitioner posed a flight risk warranting continued detention."

"The Court therefore concludes that the IJ abused discretion in denying bond and that Petitioner’s continued detention pursuant to that determination violates due process," Leupold added.

Her lawyers decried a delay in Medina's release despite the court order.

“Maria spent another night separated from her family in violation of the Constitution and the judge’s order,” said Stephen W. Manning, an attorney at Innovation Law Lab and co-counsel on the case. “While ICE operates a 24/7 arrest machine, it only bothers to comply with the Constitution and court orders during banker’s hours.”

DHS said that ICE had released Medina "in accordance with all safe release directives as soon as it was notified to do so."

José G. Miranda, senior staff attorney at Innovation Law Lab, said they were grateful that Medina is finally home, but that she should never have spent a single day in detention.

"Maria was separated from her family for months, because ICE refused to follow the law. We are vindicated by the federal court’s decision to hold ICE to account and free her," Miranda said.

In a statement, her husband said they were grateful Medina "finally got the justice she deserved." "My children and I will be complete with my wife at home. Truly, I have no words to describe how happy we are," he added.

U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, also released a statement in support of Medina's release. Bonamici had visited Medina in Tacoma and had advocated for her release.

“I’m grateful that Maria will finally be home with her family and will begin to recover from the anxiety caused by this egregious ICE overreach. Like too many others across the country, Maria has had her life completely disrupted by the President’s illegal and aggressive tactics. I will continue to fight these inhumane policies and actions with policy and protest and in the legal system," Bonamici said.

Medina's immigration case remains on appeal.

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.comon X @DianneLugoor Bluesky @diannelugo.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Federal judge orders release of Oregon mom in ICE detention

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