FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Hannah Comstock, Senior Attorney
Email: hcomstock@trialimpact.org
Website: www.trialimpactproject.org
Trial Impact Project Reunites Venezuelan Asylum Seeker with His Family in Florida After He Was Unlawfully Re-Detained by ICE
LOS ANGELES – May 12, 2026 – Trial Impact Project has secured the release of Mariano Alvarado Carrero, a Venezuelan asylum seeker, from ICE detention at Golden State Annex (GSA) in McFarland, California. Mr. Alvarado Carrero is now reunited with his family in Miami, Florida.
In January 2026, without any notice, ICE detained Mr. Alvarado Carrero following a traffic stop by Florida Highway Patrol, ripping him away from the family and community that he had built over his last four years in the United States. He was shuffled around ICE detention facilities, including Alligator Alcatraz, where he was put in solitary confinement with his hands and feet chained to a bed for 17-hours straight. ICE eventually transferred Mr. Alvarado Carrero to GSA, nearly 3,000 miles away from his family, friends, and community. He was never told by ICE why he was re-detained nor how he could challenge his re-detention. Nor was he ever accused or charged with a crime relating to the traffic stop.
“Politics have turned against immigrants,” says Mr. Alvarado Carrero. “ICE detention was the hardest thing I have ever experienced, and at times, I felt that I wanted to give up.”
After learning of Mr. Alvarado Carrero’s case from the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ), Trial Impact Project attorneys filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpous on behalf of Mr. Alvarado Carrero. The habeas petition asserted that ICE violated Mr. Alvarado Carrero’s Fifth Amendment right to due process when it re-detained him without any notice or opportunity to challenge the detention. Eighteen-days later, a federal judge agreed and ordered Mr. Alvarado Carrero’s immediate release. In the last year alone, over 40,000 immigrants like Mr. Alvarado Carrero have filed habeas petitions—more than under the last three administrations combined.
“The current administration’s push for mass detention and deportation has sparked a powerful legal response,” explains Trial Impact Project Senior Attorney Hannah Comstock. “Advocates and courts are standing firm to protect the Constitution in the face of ICE's dragnet detention campaign.”
With the help of volunteers with the organization Faith in the Valley, Mr. Alvarado Carrero has been reunited with his fiancée and is restarting his life in Florida.
“We are immensely grateful for CCIJ and Faith in the Valley,” says Joshua Behrens, Trial Impact Fellow with Trial Impact Project. “It is brave and tireless advocates like those at CCIJ and Faith in the Valley who make releases like Mr. Alvarado Carrero’s possible. I am proud that Trial Impact Project is a part of the growing movement of attorneys filing habeas petitions to protect the constitutional rights of all.”
Mr. Alvarado Carrero and his fiancée Dionnet Nunes are once again planning for their wedding, now with the peace of mind that a court order stands between them and arbitrary re-detention by ICE. “Words cannot describe how grateful we are, but believe me, from the bottom of our hearts, our family will be eternally grateful,” shares Ms. Nunes. “Trial Impact Project made Mariano’s freedom possible, something we had given up on.”
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The Trial Impact Project, formerly known as the Social Justice Legal Foundation, develops civil rights and social impact cases for trial. Working with communities who have historically been denied access to justice, we translate their experiences to the courtroom, unearth the facts to create a public record, and train a new generation of impact litigators to fight for accountability in court—from investigation to verdict.
