Judges Order Immigration Detainees Released After Federal Prosecutors in Washington State Stop Defending Some Habeas Cases

At least two federal judges in Washington state ordered immigration detainees released last week after the U.S. Attorney's Office there stopped appearing in some of their cases. The Digital Free Press read both Nov. 7 orders and the prosecutors' letter that set off the change, which both judges attached to their rulings.

In the letter, dated Oct. 26, Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd of the Western District of Washington told the court his office "does not have the available resources" to keep entering appearances in "every one of the dozens" of immigration habeas petitions filed each week. The Associated Press reported on the letter Monday.

What the U.S. Attorney's Letter Says

Floyd wrote that "there will be many habeas cases in which the USAO will no longer assume responsibility for providing a defense on behalf of the respondents," meaning the federal officials named in the petitions. He said that entering an appearance in each case "often initiates protracted litigation," including status reports, extra briefing and responses to orders to show cause over "what are often technical violations of the scheduling order."

The letter sets a simple rule. If no federal prosecutor files a notice of appearance within seven court days of a judge's standard scheduling order, "the Court may assume that the USAO will not be filing a response" and may rule on the detainee's papers alone. In those cases, the office "will take no responsibility" for moving the case along and will not act as "a conduit for communications" with ICE. Floyd said his office would keep screening petitions and could still appear in any case, and that the change "is expected to significantly streamline and expedite the resolution of most habeas petitions." Release orders, he wrote, can be emailed straight to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

How Two Judges Handled the Unopposed Habeas Petitions

U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright granted the petition of Baljit Singh, a man from India who, according to his petition, was detained in September after he and friends "inadvertently went to the exit at the Canada border" at Peace Arch Historical State Park. Cartwright wrote that the court is "not aware of any precedent" for the Justice Department declining to appear for a federal agency "rather than filing a non-opposition statement," but called the letter "the official position of the Department." She construed the petition as "intentionally unopposed" and ordered Singh released within one day.

The same day, U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson granted a petition filed without a lawyer by Andres Eloy Contreras Garcia. "The Government has full access to the relevant facts concerning Petitioner's detention, yet it has offered no factual or legal basis to rebut his petition," she wrote, adding that its silence "constitutes forfeiture" of its arguments. She ordered him released by Nov. 8 and cited earlier rulings from California federal courts that granted unopposed petitions the same way.

Both judges sent their orders to ICE at email addresses the U.S. Attorney's Office had supplied.

Why It Matters

Habeas petitions let detainees ask a judge to rule that their detention is unlawful. The AP reported that border czar Tom Homan told Fox News last week that courts are weighed down by about 85,000 immigration habeas cases. The AP also reported that Floyd is a former immigration judge.

The letter does not say how many cases will go undefended. The orders show that, at least in these two cases, the government's silence was enough for the detainee to win release.

Sources: Letter from Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd to U.S. District Judge David Estudillo, Oct. 26, 2026, filed as Exhibit A in Singh v. Blanche, No. 2:26-cv-04143-TMC (W.D. Wash.), Dkt. 4-1 (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.370859/gov.uscourts.wawd.370859.4.1.pdf); Order Granting Writ of Habeas Corpus, Singh v. Blanche, Dkt. 4, Nov. 7, 2026 (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.370859/gov.uscourts.wawd.370859.4.0.pdf); Order Granting Unopposed Habeas Petition, Contreras Garcia v. Facility Administrator, Northwest ICE Processing Center, No. 2:26-cv-04156-KKE (W.D. Wash.), Dkt. 6, Nov. 7, 2026 (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.370890/gov.uscourts.wawd.370890.6.0.pdf); Associated Press, Nov. 9, 2026 (https://apnews.com/article/us-attorney-washington-ice-immigration-9391146bb9f63f1dec4c427dc7716fb2). Cover photo: Union Station in Tacoma, Washington, home of a federal courthouse, by Rob Bixby, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).