Judge Orders Release of Venezuelan Couple

Federal District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema declared there was no legal basis for detention of Luddis Sanchez Garcia and Julio Sanchez Puentes, a couple from Venezuela who were swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accused of association with the Tren de Aragua gang.

They have work permits and hold temporary protected status in the USA. After Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered termination of TPS for Venezuelans as of 7 April 2025, the couple filed for asylum.

They admit to crossing the border illegally in 2022 to enter Texas. DHS did not file misdemeanor charges for that until February 2025. They were arrested for those charges that month home in Capitol Heights, Maryland. They have three children.

They appeared 12 March before federal Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey. Prosecutors asked to keep them in detention through their trial. Harvey described the case as “odd.” They had work permits, a solid work history as cleaners and records of diligence taking their cases through the immigration system.

They updated their addresses with immigration personnel when they moved. The prosecutor handling the case said she did not know they had TPS status.

Harvey declined the prosecutor’s request to keep them in detention. “I don’t find they’re a serious risk of flight. I don’t find that they’re even a vague risk of flight.” He said “under any interpretation” the government did not show detention was needed.

After an extra day in detention due to a hold by immigration officials, they were free for about a week. Then Drug Enforcement Administration agents wearing masks stopped them while they were driving with their children, arrested them again and put them into detention again.

Their lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court and got them taken to court in front of Brinkema.

Sanchez Garcia is originally from Aragua, where Tren de Aragua is based.  She acknowledged she “knows members” of the group and she separated from her former husband about a decade ago. The government of Venezuela later killed him for his affiliation with the gang.

Federal prosecutors did not have any evidence to indicate Sanchez Garcia or Sanchez Puentes have any association with the gang themselves, only speculation, so Brinkema ordered their release.

Click here for more details.