Bronx Delivery Worker Released From ICE Custody After Habeas Petition Blocks Transfer

Gagne Diagne, a 32-year-old Senegalese asylum seeker who works as a DoorDash delivery driver, was arrested by masked federal agents outside his Bronx home on the morning of August 14 — one day after he filed a motion to reopen his asylum case. Agents took him to 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, where he said he was made to sign documents he did not understand before an interpreter was provided. The Amadou Ly Foundation helped him file a pro se habeas corpus petition to stop ICE from transferring him out of New York, and a judge granted the motion to reopen, eliminating his removal order. Diagne was released on August 19 after six days in custody and returned to his wife and 4-month-old baby.