Securing Due Process for Unlawfully Detained Immigrants

We filed a motion on behalf of 24-year-old Jaciel Cirrus Rojas, who had been unlawfully detained in the Dodge County Jail by ICE since June of 2025. Cirrus Rojas is a father, and since he was detained, he had not been able to see his one-year-old child.

Cirrus Rojas was given a bond hearing and cleared to be released, but the Department of Homeland Security appealed that decision, forcing Cirrus Rojas to be kept behind bars indefinitely. We agreed to take on his case in November of 2025 to help ensure that every person in Wisconsin is ensured their rights to due process.

On July 30, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of Cirrus Rojas’s habeas petition, ordering him not subject to mandatory detention and eligible for a bond hearing. The court held that DHS improperly denied bond hearings or ignored bond orders for thousands of people in its custody. This is a huge win reaffirming due process rights in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

“All people in the United States are entitled to due process. Our client and others like him have a constitutional and statutory right to receive a bond hearing for exactly that purpose,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Staff Attorney Hannah Schwarz.

“We have seen hundreds of cases nationwide in which federal judges have ruled that ICE cannot hold people in Cirrus Rojas’s position without bond hearings, but that has not deterred ICE from continuing to lock up people while flagrantly violating the law. We will continue to advocate for immigrants, who are our neighbors, friends, and family members, living peacefully in the United States and making important contributions to our communities.”

We congratulate Mr. Cirrus Rojas and our colleagues at the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project on this victory for all immigrants in Wisconsin.