DETROIT – The ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit this week demanding that eight people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including a father of three U.S. citizen children who suffers from leukemia and has had his life-saving treatments disrupted while in custody, be immediately released or given bond hearings within seven days.
The petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, asserts that eight long-time Michigan residents are being illegally denied their right to a bond hearing as the result of a new directive issued by the Trump administration on July 8. The new directive reverses decades of government policy and practice and could result in millions of people being unlawfully detained despite immigration laws and constitutional due process protections that entitle them to a bond hearing.
The eight petitioners in the case, who are alleged to have entered the country without documents, have lived in the United States as long as 25 years, in some cases since infancy, and have longstanding ties to their communities. None have a criminal record, other than for traffic infractions. They are being held without bond in detention facilities in Michigan and Ohio. The lawsuit alleges that, under the U.S. Constitution and immigration law, the federal government must give them a hearing before an immigration judge who can decide whether they should be locked up or can return to and live with their families while their immigration cases proceed, a process that could take months or years.
The petitioners in the case include:
Jose Daniel Contreras-Cervantes
Jose Daniel Contreras-Cervantes, 33, came to the U.S. at age 14, and has lived here for almost two decades. He is married to a U.S. citizen and has three U.S. citizen children, aged 1, 8 and 9. In 2024, he was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare and life-threatening bone marrow cancer. As a result of his cancer treatment, he is also suffering from anemia and vision loss. He recently had retinal surgery and is supposed to have follow-up appointments with his eye doctor. He also requires daily oral chemotherapy, and ongoing monitoring by both an oncologist and ophthalmologist. On August 5, Mr. Contreras-Cervantes was pulled over by Macomb County Sheriff officer for allegedly driving a few miles over the speed limit. Although he has no criminal history, other than for traffic offenses, he was taken into immigration custody. His detention separates him from his medical team and jeopardizes his health. The disruption in his treatment – including the lack of critically necessary medication from August 5 to August 27, 2025 – places him at grave risk of severe complications, including permanent vision damage, infection, and death. He is currently being held without bond at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan.
Fredy De Los Angeles-Flores
Fredy De Los Angeles-Flores, 46, has lived in the U.S. for 15 years and he is the sole caregiver to his 13-year-old U.S. citizen son. Mr. De Los Angeles-Flores has provided a safe and stable home environment for his child and is deeply involved in his education and school community, regularly attending parent-teacher conferences, cultural nights, and other school events. He owns his home, has no criminal history aside from minor traffic violations, has close family ties here, and is strongly supported by his community. Nevertheless, on June 27, 2025, Mr. De Los Angeles-Flores was arrested at a gas station by immigration agents who were looking for someone else. He is being held without bond at the Monroe County Jail in Monroe, Michigan. Mr. De Los Angeles-Flores’ detention has devastated his son.
The others, whose names are being withheld to protect their privacy, have similar stories. One of the petitioners has been released since the lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit asks the court to order that Mr. Contreras-Cervantes, Mr. De Los Angeles-Flores, and the other petitioners be immediately released from custody or, in the alternative, be provided with bond hearings within seven days.
The ACLU recently filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of Juan Manuel Lopez-Campos, who had similarly been detained at the Monroe County Jail without a bond hearing by ICE. In that case, a federal judge ruled that Mr. Lopez-Campos' detention violated both immigration laws and the Constitution, and ordered that either be immediately released or provided a bond hearing within seven days. The government responded by quickly releasing him from custody.
In addition to the decision in the Lopez-Campos case, at least three dozen other courts around the country have found the government’s policy of holding long-time residents without a bond hearing to be illegal. However, ICE has continued to apply the new directive to detain immigrants unlawfully.
Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said this about the case:
“This new ICE directive is one of the most dangerous and far-reaching abuses of power that we’ve seen in this Administration’s mass deportation campaign. If unchecked, it will affect thousands, possibly millions of people. This directive is specifically designed to force people to give up their claims for immigration relief and leave their families behind. The Administration’s goal is to break people’s spirits—to lock people up and make them so desperate that they agree to leave their loved ones. The cruelty of this new directive is not an accident. Cruelty is the point. This is family separation with a different name. But the administration has underestimated the power of family, and how hard parents are going to fight to come home to their kids. The administration has also underestimated our Constitution, which guarantees due process and guarantees it for everyone. That’s why we are back in court.”
Lupita Contreras, wife of Jose Daniel Contreras-Cervantes:
“It is hard enough knowing that my husband’s life will be cut short given his prognosis. But it is torture for me and my children to lose precious time with him because ICE locked him up away from us. I agonize over whether he’s getting the care he needs to stay alive. My sons witnessed their father being taken away and were not even allowed to say goodbye. Losing him has turned our lives upside-down. We both worked, paid our bills and cared for our children together. Now, without him, it’s almost impossible for me to work since I have to care for our children, who also have medical conditions that require constant attention.
“I will not give up on my husband until he is back home with his children and in his community, where he belongs. But my family is just one of many families across our state and our nation that are being ripped apart by this Administration’s immigration policies. Kids need their dads and moms. Families belong together. And that’s true no matter which family members have a U.S. passport. I am a U.S. citizen, and that is why I decided to speak out. I’m speaking out not just for my family, but for countless others who can’t because they rightly fear they will be targeted if they tell their stories. Our families must be reunited.”
Read the petition here.
Read the brief here.
Press conference recording can be found here.
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