The United States District Judge Tana Lin has ordered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to immediately release Temitope Majekodunmi, a Nigerian woman facing deportation, ruling that her prolonged detention by authorities was unlawful and “no longer reasonably related to removal.”

Ms Majekodunmi fled Nigeria over claims that her mother-in-law attempted to force her to marry her late husband’s younger brother and circumcise her daughter, according to court documents obtained by the Peoples Gazette.

She has been at the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Washington for nine months since October 27, 2023, after her removal period began in July 2025.

In her ruling on May 11, Ms Lin held that Ms Majekodunmi’s detention had “become prolonged without adequate justification.”

Ms Lin cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, which holds that six months is a “reasonable time” for post-removal detention before continued confinement may become unlawful.

The Nigerian woman, with her daughter, entered the U.S. in June 2014 to seek asylum over her claims, but an immigration officer said she was inadmissible, citing a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Ms Majekodunmi and her daughter were taken into custody and later paroled into the U.S., pending deportation proceedings.

In January 2016, an immigration judge terminated her deportation proceedings, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appealed, and the Board of Immigration Appeals later reinstated the case.

According to the court filings, a Form I-130 Petition for Noncitizen Relative was filed in January 2018 as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. Her deportation case was terminated without prejudice at the end of the same year.

Later in 2019, she applied for permanent residency, but the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) denied the application because it found the marriage fraudulent and determined she entered it for immigration benefits.

In 2023, she was sentenced to 10 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud before authorities again charged her with inadmissibility, adding her wire fraud conviction to the charges.

An immigration judge ordered her removal in 2024, and the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the decision in March 2025.

Subsequently, she filed two appeals with the Ninth Circuit seeking a stay, but the court denied the stay on July 18, 2025.

Ms Majekodunmi was denied bond in August 2025 by an immigration judge who found that she was subject to mandatory detention. However, the judge said the Nigerian was not considered a flight risk or a threat to the community.

She subsequently filed a habeas petition in March 2026, arguing that her detention was prolonged, “indefinite,” and caused “severe and irreparable harm to her medically vulnerable child.”

While the petitioner must provide reasons why she believes the government may not deport her in the near future, the respondents argued that she had not provided sufficient evidence to support her claims.

However, the judge found that the government appeared not to have taken steps to deport her during her nine months of post-removal detention.

Ms Lin noted that Ms Majekodunmi’s argument that the respondents had provided “no evidence of any actual efforts” and that “there is no indication that travel documents have been requested or obtained, no evidence of communication with Nigerian authorities, and no scheduled removal.”

“Without any showing from respondent that it ever has or ever will work toward petitioner’s removal, the court cannot determine that there is a significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future,” the judge held.

The judge then ordered the authorities to release Ms Majekodunmi within 24 hours and to notify the court of the timing within 48 hours.