Melika Olya, an Iranian native, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus on March 13, 2025, challenging the legality of her indefinite detention at the El Paso Service Processing Center in Texas. She has been detained since February 2023, with no end in sight. She brings this challenge under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Ms. Olya came to the United States seeking asylum in January 2023, after Iranian officials physically assaulted her and threatened her with death for protesting mandatory hijab laws. Though she passed an initial Credible Fear Interview with U.S. asylum officers by showing a credible fear of persecution or torture in her home country, an immigration judge ultimately denied her asylum case and ordered that she be deported to Iran. Ms. Olya has been indefinitely caged in ICE detention since February 2023.

Since at least 2016, the Department of Homeland Security has listed Iran as an “uncooperative” country, and Iran has refused to accept deportation flights from the United States. Given this history, it is highly unlikely that Ms. Olya will be deported to Iran in the foreseeable future. The government should therefore release Ms. Olya immediately, so she can be reunited with her family in the United States.

The writ of habeas corpus allows people who are detained to challenge the legal basis of their confinement. The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment forbids the government from depriving any person of liberty without the due process of law. Prolonged and indefinite civil detention violate that constitutional principle.

Moreover, while the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes a 90-day mandatory detention period after a person has been ordered removed while ICE arranges for their deportation, people detained beyond the 90-day period should generally be released, often with conditions of supervision. At the time of filing this case in March 2025, Ms. Olya had been in ICE detention for over two years, and had been detained for nearly 19 months since being ordered removed – well beyond the 90-day mandatory detention period. Since Ms. Olya is not likely to be removed to Iran in the foreseeable future, legal precedent and the Constitution require that she be released immediately.