A federal judge in Oregon excoriated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security officials this week over the arrest of a transgender Mexican woman theyre attempting to deport.U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio said the woman was tricked into agreeing to Homeland Securitys dismissal of her asylum case and said that an immigration judges assurance that ICE wouldnt seek to deport her just wasnt true. Related Drag performer arrested by ICE agents at asylum hearing Hilary Rivers was seeking asylum based on traumatic and severe persecution in his home country. They arrested first. They sought to justify later, and then they changed the alleged basis for the alleged detention, Baggio said. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today She called Homeland Securitys actions an abuse of power.The judge detailed the womans case since she arrived to the U.S. from Mexico in 2023, The Oregonian reported.The woman, identified only as O-J-M in court, had complied with all directives around her asylum claim, including multiple U.S. ICE check-ins and court appearances.O-J-M said she left Mexico because she was persecuted for her gender identity and kidnapped and sexually assaulted by members of a Mexican drug cartel for being trans as well.On June 2, she was summoned to appear in immigration court in Portland. There, the government suddenly moved to dismiss her application for asylum. Its a tactic now used frequently by the Trump administration to strip migrants recently arrived to the U.S. of their pending immigration status to expedite their deportation.Baggio noted that it was clear the immigration judge hearing her case, Steven D. Caley, had met with the Homeland Security lawyer beforehand, and was aware that O-J-M had legal representation. However, the womans lawyers werent present for the hearing. Caley assured O-J-M that, If dismissed, you will not be in a removal so the department would not be seeking your removal from the U.S.The woman said she wanted to continue through the asylum process, but the lawyer from Homeland Security objected.Caley pressed O-J-M further, telling her, The department wont be seeking to remove you back to your home country if you accept the dismissal.OK, O-J-M responded. Then I want to.She was immediately arrested by ICE officers stationed outside the door.O-J-M was affirmatively misinformed and even talked out of her concern over the dismissal of her case, Baggio said.She asked a Justice Department lawyer if the Homeland Security lawyer at the immigration hearing knew O-J-M was going to be arrested afterward.DOJ attorney Ariana M. Garousi paused and consulted with her co-counsel. I believe so,she said. Complicating O-J-Ms case in the fact that shes transgender.In accordance with President Trumps gender ideology executive order, she was placed in a mens detention facility following her unlawful arrest. O-J-M requested she be placed in solitary confinement for her safety.On Monday, Biaggio ordered her release. In a furious attempt to divert attention from the governmental abuses cited by the judge, the Department of Homeland Security said Biaggio, a Biden appointee, had issued the release order based on gender ideology fanaticism.The activist judge is ignoring the biological reality of sex, undermining ICEs commitment to promoting safe, secure, and humane environments for women in custody, and subverting the American peoples mandate to restore commonsense to our immigration system and reject extreme gender fanaticism,said department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.The President made it clear on Day One: [The Department of Homeland Security] will not buy into radical gender ideology when detaining illegal aliens. McLaughlin said.Theres a right way to do this and theres a wrong way, Baggio said as she ordered O-J-Ms release. The government unquestionably went about its arrest and detention of O-J-M in the wrong way.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.