Obama Judge RELEASES 4 Child Predators – Hours After ARREST!

Gavel and scales of justice on wooden table.

A federal judge ordered ICE to release four immigrants within three hours, setting off a firestorm that reveals the deepening clash between due process protections and immigration enforcement under an administration determined to deport at any cost.

Story Snapshot

U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ordered ICE to immediately release four men detained at Angola’s Camp 57 on February 6, 2026
The men had been re-detained in summer 2025 despite prior ICE releases finding them neither flight risks nor dangers
DHS framed the release as freeing dangerous criminals including murderers and a pedophile, while advocates emphasized due process violations
The ruling marks the first major pushback against ICE’s expanded use of Angola prison for immigration detention
Courts nationwide granted over 50 percent of habeas petitions in 2025 for similar due process failures

When the Government Breaks Its Own Rules

Judge deGravelles found ICE violated its own regulations when it re-detained four men who had already undergone release determinations. These weren’t fresh arrests. Three men were seized at routine ICE check-ins, one at his home, all during summer 2025 sweeps. ICE had previously assessed each man and concluded they posed no flight risk or public danger. Then the agency reversed course without new evidence, without deportation prospects on the horizon, and without the due process safeguards its own rules mandate. The judge gave ICE three hours to comply. By that afternoon, all four walked free.

The Angola Factor Nobody Wants to Discuss

Camp 57 sits inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a facility with a reputation steeped in racism and forced labor dating back generations. ICE repurposed this notorious site for immigration detention in 2025 as the Trump administration ramped up its deportation machinery. Among the four men ordered released was a 72-year-old suffering from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, a man who had lived in the United States for 45 years. Another held protection under the Convention Against Torture. These details complicate the narrative that ICE was simply holding violent criminals awaiting removal. The men ranged from 43 to 72 years old, hardly the profile of imminent threats requiring indefinite detention in a prison infamous for its brutal history.

Obama-Appointed Judge Lets Illegal Alien Convicts Walk Free from ICE https://t.co/Eq1hwFeE8k

These monsters should be released into the home of the Judge. He should be liable for any crime committed following their release.

— Karen Plechaty (@plechaty66947) February 12, 2026

The Crime Claims That Fuel the Fury

DHS wasted no time framing the release in the starkest terms possible: three murderers and a pedophile set loose by an Obama-appointed judge. Conservative outlets amplified this characterization, portraying the ruling as judicial activism undermining public safety and immigration enforcement. Yet nowhere in the available record do independent sources verify these criminal histories or provide context about decades-old convictions, sentences served, or the legal complexities surrounding deportation for individuals with torture protection or medical vulnerabilities. The DHS statement offers no nuance, only alarm. When an agency re-detains individuals it previously deemed safe for community supervision, then loses in court, the question becomes whether the agency was ever acting on genuine public safety concerns or simply flexing enforcement muscle without regard for law.

A Pattern ICE Cannot Escape

This Louisiana ruling fits a nationwide pattern documented throughout 2025 and into 2026. Courts in Washington and Oregon granted habeas relief in over half of petitions filed by long-term residents detained without criminal records or deportation timelines. Judges from across the appointee spectrum, including Obama and Biden picks, expressed frustration with ICE’s defiance of release orders. Some judges resorted to tracking detainees’ belongings via UPS to ensure compliance. Others called ICE’s legal positions indefensible, noting the agency imposed post-release monitoring as unofficial conditions despite court orders for unconditional freedom. Judge Christine O’Hearn described ICE’s behavior as knowingly defiant. Judge Susan Nelson detailed logistical gymnastics to prevent the agency from stalling releases with bureaucratic hair-splitting. These are not isolated incidents of judicial overreach. They represent a judiciary checking an executive branch that systematically ignores due process when it conflicts with deportation quotas.

What Conservative Values Actually Demand

Conservatives rightly prioritize law and order, public safety, and the rule of law. Yet ICE’s actions in this case and countless others betray those principles. Detaining individuals indefinitely without evidence they can be deported, without new criminal conduct, and in defiance of the agency’s own regulations is not law enforcement. It is lawlessness dressed in federal authority. The Trump administration reduced criminal re-entry prosecutions while expanding deportations, a shift that prioritizes removal over accountability for actual criminal re-entry. Meanwhile, elderly men with severe medical conditions and decades of U.S. residence languish in a former slave plantation converted into an immigration jail. If the government cannot follow its own rules, it forfeits the moral authority to demand citizens and immigrants do the same. Common sense and constitutional order require that even those facing deportation receive the process the law guarantees. Anything less is tyranny by bureaucracy.

The Precedent That Changes Everything

Judge deGravelles set a precedent for swift habeas relief, and other courts are following suit. The ruling pressures ICE to either comply with judicial orders or face contempt. It challenges the viability of facilities like Camp 57, which advocacy groups want shuttered permanently. The National Immigration Project celebrated the decision as a rejection of needless suffering in a facility defined by its racist legacy. Rights Behind Bars pointed to a clear national pattern of due process violations targeting immigrants under community supervision. ICE now faces a choice: reform its re-detention practices or continue losing in court while burning taxpayer dollars on indefinite detention without legal justification. The broader immigration detention sector confronts growing scrutiny, rising habeas filings, and accelerating releases for individuals who were never dangers to begin with. This is not judicial activism. This is the judiciary doing its job when the executive will not do its own.