A San Jose neighborhood organizer and tattoo artist born in Mexico and going through immigration detention after a pending felony vandalism cost gained a reprieve Thursday night when a federal choose barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from taking him into custody earlier than he has a listening to.
U.S. District Choose Rita F. Lin’s approval of a preliminary injunction was a small however necessary victory for Guillermo Medina Reyes, 31, mentioned his lawyer Victoria Solar, legal professional and co-director at Pangea Authorized Companies, which offers authorized counsel for immigrants.
“This ruling is a critical step but it is not the end,” mentioned Solar. “The court’s decision affirms that collective action can win real protection, but it does not change the fact that the legal system is not designed to serve our people. Courts may offer temporary relief, but they cannot deliver the lasting justice and safety our communities deserve. Guillermo should never have been targeted in the first place — and we should not have to fight this hard to keep our loved ones free.”
The choice, filed on a public-access database for digital courtroom information, got here after the extension of a brief restraining order that saved Reyes from detention throughout a compulsory irregular check-in at a San Jose ICE heart on July 1.
It means ICE should cease its pursuit to detain Reyes whereas he seeks a listening to of his case. Nonetheless, the choose’s order didn’t require the company to take away the GPS ankle monitor it positioned on Reyes two weeks in the past.
Guillermo Medina Reyes, 31, at a buddy’s home in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, July 14, 2025. Reyes, initially from Mexico, had an arraignment and separate courtroom listening to Tuesday which can decide whether or not ICE will probably be prevented from detaining him till he will get an opportunity to have an neutral listening to. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
With out the ruling, this safety would have ended at 5 p.m. Thursday, with a excessive chance of Reyes’ detention instantly thereafter.
On the identical day of Reyes’ July 15 listening to, ICE introduced a directive banning bond hearings for individuals who have entered the nation illegally. Reyes was dropped at the U.S. from his native Mexico when he was 6 years outdated.
After finishing a sentence for an attempted-murder when he was 16, Reyes was positioned in immigration detention for 15 months. In 2023, an immigration choose ordered his launch after figuring out he wasn’t a menace or flight danger and that ICE couldn’t show that they may promptly deport him.
However ICE started looking for to detain him once more after police say Reyes in Might kicked down an residence door in an incident for which he was charged with felony vandalism July 2. His authorized staff mentioned it was a psychological well being disaster by which he believed a lady he knew was trapped inside.
Choose Lin wrote in her ruling Thursday that Reyes wanted to be allowed a immediate listening to.
“There are serious questions, at the very least, as to whether ICE may unilaterally deprive Petitioner of his liberty without timely review from a neutral decisionmaker,” Lin wrote. “Petitioner has shown that the balance of hardships tips sharply in his favor, and thus that issuance of a preliminary injunction is appropriate.”
The choose additionally set a deadline of July 29 for attorneys on either side of the case to submit a timeline for the subsequent proceedings in in federal courtroom — a go well with towards ICE and the division of homeland safety that can play out over the months forward.
