Noman Sabit: A man who had his green card revoked under former President Barack Obama’s administration is asking a judge to order his release from immigration detention.
The case was transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in an order filed on Tuesday. Ryan Gittens, who is representing himself, said in a letter filed in August 2025 that he was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 29, 2025. He alleged that he is unable to be removed by ICE, and the agency knew that and arrested him anyway. He said that his detention is “unlawful” and that he is seeking immediate release.
Gittens said he was previously in ICE custody from 2011 to 2013 and was released after receiving a final removal order. Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Immigration enforcement has been a key focus of President Donald Trump’s administration. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced that enforcement operations have resulted in more than 605,000 deportations since January 20, 2025. Gittens said in an August 2025 filing that his green card was revoked in 2013 after an immigration judge found him eligible to be deported following a conviction. Despite this, he was not deported and had been working as an EMT in New York for the past 11 years, according to the filing.
Gittens said ICE was unable to remove him, and he complied with its demands, including reporting to the agency since 2013. He said he has not violated his supervision or committed any crimes since his release. Gittens said that after he was taken into custody, he notified an ICE officer that he had spinal stenosis and was “ignored,” then placed into a room without a bed.
He said the “hard” floor has caused “pain to my spine, neck and shoulder, causing muscle spasms.” He also said he will be unable to receive an epidural for his stenosis while in custody, which he receives every three months. In a 2012 filing in an unrelated case, Gittens said he was born in Barbados and moved to Brooklyn, New York, with his mother in 1984 at the age of 8. He said he was convicted of conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance in 2007.
