A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an Iowa immigration detainee who suffered “horrific abuse” in Sudan before being jailed in the United States for two years by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour against ICE and the Muscatine County sheriff, sought Nour’s immediate release from the county jail.
In dismissing the case, Chief Judge Stephanie Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, ruled recently that while she “laments the horrific abuse he suffered in Sudan,” federal law and ICE policies cited by Nour do not offer him the legal refuge he now seeks.
Court records indicate that before coming to the United States in 2024, Nour was abducted by the militia in Sudan, held captive for 10 days, and forced to perform labor under the threat of death. He then escaped, traveling through Africa, Europe, and South America before reaching the United States on July 7, 2024, and being apprehended by ICE and placed in federal custody at the Freeborn County Detention Center in Albert Lea, Minn.
According to court records, Nour applied for asylum under the provisions of the Convention Against Torture. While an immigration judge initially denied that application, the lawsuit states, Nour filed a successful appeal and the federal government’s Board of Immigration Appeal remanded that case back to the immigration judge for reconsideration of his application.
Court records show that in December 2025, Nour was transferred to the Muscatine County Jail, and on Jan. 9, 2026, a judge granted Nour’s application for reconsideration, triggering an appeal by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Nour has since asked the Board of Immigration Appeal to expedite its review of DHS’ appeal, although that matter is still pending.
On June 17, 2026, lawyers for Nour sued, arguing his detention violated the so-called “Accardi doctrine,” which holds that federal agencies must follow their own established rules, regulations, and procedures or risk having their actions invalidated by a court. As evidence of the alleged violation, Nour’s attorneys cited a 2004 internal ICE memorandum that says it is generally ICE’s policy to favor the release of noncitizens who have been granted protection relief by an immigration judge.
In response, the U.S. Department of Justice argued the Accardi doctrine applies only to violations of laws and regulations and not to internal policy memos and that under federal law, Nour was still subject to mandatory detention.
In dismissing Nour’s lawsuit, Rose found that the 22-year-old memorandum on which he relied did not have the force of law or guarantee Nour any rights imposed by laws or regulations and was instead intended by ICE to “preserve agency resources” by giving the agency a measure of discretion in handling such cases. Nour, she noted, “admits he is an applicant for admission (to the United States) subject to mandatory detention.”
