Two more people detained by ICE agents in Iowa are taking the U.S. Department of Justice to federal court, alleging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and others are continuing to ignore court orders and willfully violate the law.
Since last summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers across the nation have been picking up and jailing individuals who entered the United States without authorization years ago before being released on their own recognizance.
In most of those cases, immigration judges have then denied the individuals a hearing at which they could argue they’re eligible for release on bond as they pose no flight risk or danger to the community.
The detainees then must hire a lawyer and file a petition to have a judge in U.S. District Court — which is entirely separate from the immigration court system — issue a ruling ordering the immigration court to hold a bond hearing.
Despite the fact that district court judges across the country have overwhelmingly ruled that detainees who have been in the country for months or years are not subject to mandatory detention and are entitled to such hearings as matter of due process, the U.S. Department of Justice, led by Bondi, have continued to argue otherwise.
Politico recently reported that more than 300 federal judges, including appointees of every president since Ronald Reagan, have rejected the administration’s “mandatory detention” theory in more than 1,600 cases.
ICE detainee in Polk County Jail
One such case involves Suraj Vasal, who came to the United States from India in 2022 but was recently jailed by ICE in Polk County. On Thursday, Vasal’s attorney argued in court filings that given the DOJ’s ongoing practice of detaining individuals and then forcing them to file suit in district court to win their due process rights, a stronger remedy than a court-ordered bond hearing is needed.
“The remedy of a bond hearing after detention only rewards (the government’s) illegal conduct,” attorney Alexander Smith told the court. Noting that “the court is likely tired of” having the same issue relitigated in each detention case, Smith said “every judge in this district has had to tell (the government) they are wrong,” and that despite those findings, the government “continues to make aliens go to federal court” to secure their rights.
According to Smith, Vasal came to the United States in 2022 seeking asylum and was released on his own recognizance one day later. Since then, Smith told the court, he has complied with all conditions of his release.
The court filings indicate Vasal was stopped and detained by ICE agents on Feb. 11, 2026, while driving through Iowa and stopping at a truck weigh station. He was then taken to the Polk County Jail, where he remains today.
According to Smith, ICE had Vasal jailed despite the lack of an arrest warrant. In addition, he claims, ICE did not give any consideration to the question of whether Vasal posed a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Vasal’s lawsuit seeks a district court order directing the immigration court to provide him with a bond hearing. In addition to ICE and Bondi, the defendants in the case include Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Polk County Sheriff Kevin Schneider and Polk County Jail Administrator Cory Williams. They have yet to file a response to the lawsuit.
ICE detainee in Hardin County Jail
A similar case was recently filed on behalf of Navdeep Singh, a California man who alleges he was arrested by ICE on Nov. 14, 2025, after he failed to stop at a truck weigh station while driving his work vehicle near Mitchellville in Jasper County.
According to the lawsuit, Singh entered the United States without authorization in 2018. He was arrested by Customs and Border Protection and then released on a $24,000 bond. His immigration proceedings were still pending at the time of his arrest in November, the lawsuit claims.
Singh, who claims to have valid work authorization and a valid commercial driver’s license, is now in the Hardin County Jail and has not had a bond hearing, the lawsuit alleges. He now “now languishes in custody for the duration of the bond appeal, or even longer, despite qualifying for a bond redetermination hearing in immigration court,” Singh’s attorney, Christopher Roth, recently told a U.S. District Court judge.
ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Roth argued, have “no evidence that Singh is a flight risk or danger to the community.”
Singh’s lawsuit seeks an order for his immediate release or, in the alternative, an order directing the government to provide him with a bond hearing. The government has to file a response to the lawsuit.
