Judge Rules ICE 'Coerced' Legal Migrant To Sign Deportation Papers
Court orders the release of a Tongan man after documents he was told to sign were used in bid a to remove him from the U.S.
A federal judge has ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents coerced a 20-year-old Tongan man, Cornelius Kaihau Holani, into signing deportation papers. Judge Noël Wise of the Northern District of California found that ICE detained Holani at Oakland International Airport and transported him to a San Francisco ICE office, where he was presented with a document and asked to sign it.
Holani, who overstayed his visa, claimed he signed the document without understanding its contents. The judge ruled that ICE likely violated basic due process protections and ordered Holani's release from custody. The government must now file a status report confirming Holani's release by August 5 and respond to his filing later that same day. A hearing is scheduled for August 13.
Written by urgent.news from Newsweek's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
