Federal judge issues ‘final notice’ to Trump admin over unlawful jailings of immigrants in WV

by Amelia Ferrell Knisely, West Virginia Watch
March 2, 2026

With another ruling that an immigrant was wrongly jailed in West Virginia, a federal judge has issued “a final notice” to the federal government over continued unlawful detaining of immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin wrote that, “The government is wrong. Judges in this district have said that over and over and over.” He added that in each case, the federal government has presented no factual dispute or no legal argument beyond what the court previously rejected.

The judge wrote that, “Continued detention without individualized custody determinations, after this court’s repeated holdings that such detention violates the Fifth Amendment, will result in legal consequences.”

Those consequences could affect state jail officials and federal officials, according to the order.

The case was one of 17 immigration cases assigned to the court just last week, Goodwin noted in his Feb. 27 order.

Three other district court judges in West Virginia have pointed out serious legal issues and, time and time again, the unconstitutionality of immigration arrests in the state. Politico noted on Sunday that these judges have become “a firewall against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”

The lawsuits landing in their courtrooms have stemmed from “Operation County Roads,” where more than 600 undocumented immigrants were arrested during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations across West Virginia in January. Many arrests happened during traffic stops on the state’s interstate highways.

The federal judges’ have ordered the immediate release of numerous immigrant detainees — many without criminal records — who were held without due process in West Virginia’s overcrowded jails. The state is renting jail beds to ICE for $90 for each day it holds an ICE detainee.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey has touted the partnership with ICE, saying in a news release that the hundreds of immigration-related arrests in January “removed dangerous illegal immigrants from our communities and made our state safer for families and law-abiding citizens.”

Goodwin’s latest ruling deals with Miguel Antonio Dominguez Izaguirre, who entered the United States in 2016 and lives in Virginia with his two young kids who are both United States citizens. Izaguirre was detained by ICE last month in Summersville then held at South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, according to court records.

The judge said Izaguirre’s due process rights had been violated.

“There is no evidence in the record that petitioner is a danger to the community or a flight risk, and there is sufficient evidence that he has community ties. Still, he has been afforded no hearing. This violates his due process rights,” Goodwin wrote. “Immediate release is the only appropriate remedy.”

Goodwin, appointed by President Bill Clinton, recently condemned masked ICE agents for concealing their identities and using unmarked vehicles to make arrests during traffic stops. It violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, the judge said.

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