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# ICE jailed a dentist over a notice it mailed to the wrong address. A judge called the government's response "galling."
- URL: https://www.workersrights.news/judge-davis-ice-dentist-arrest-appalling-us-citizens-detained/
- Published: 2026-11-03T02:20:20.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T02:20:20.000Z
- Description: Judge Michael Davis found the arrest violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and barred ICE from detaining him again without permission.
- Author: WorkersRights.News Team
- Tags: Legal News, Politics

A federal judge in Minnesota ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday to free a Canadian-born dentist its agents arrested at his green card interview, calling the facts of the case "appalling."

U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis granted a writ of habeas corpus for Dr. William Lizardo, 32, and found that his arrest and detention violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, [Newsweek reported](https://www.newsweek.com/judge-blasts-ice-over-appalling-arrest-of-dentist-12649225?ref=workersrights.news). A writ of habeas corpus is the court order that makes the government justify holding someone, or let them go. Davis ordered Lizardo released on his own recognizance by 6 p.m. Sunday, and barred the government from detaining, transferring or deporting him again without the court's permission.

## A notice sent to the wrong address

Lizardo came to the U.S. in 2019 on a student visa to attend the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and graduated in 2023\. He married a dental school classmate who is a U.S. citizen, and their daughter was born in April 2025\. His wife's petition to sponsor him was approved in January 2025, and he applied for a green card.

In January 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied that application because he hadn't provided a certified Ontario court record for a 2012 charge that was withdrawn after he completed a diversion program, according to Newsweek. His appeal of that denial is still pending. The denial cost him his work permit. Before that he practiced in federally designated shortage areas; afterward he volunteered at a low-cost clinic in Burnsville.

In February, the Department of Homeland Security issued him a notice to appear at a March 26 immigration hearing. It went to an address that conflicted with newer address information USCIS already had. Lizardo never got it, missed the hearing, and was ordered deported in his absence. He learned about all of it on Oct. 23, when two ICE agents arrested him at the end of an immigration interview and took him to the Sherburne County Jail.

His lawyers asked the immigration court to cancel the deportation order two days later. The court granted it on Oct. 28\. ICE kept him locked up anyway.

## "Galling"

Davis rejected the government's argument that the reopened case and a different section of immigration law justified holding him. He found no new warrant, no new custody decision and no evidence that Lizardo might run.

"It strains credulity to think that such a petitioner would flee," Davis wrote. He found the government "had no probable cause to believe Petitioner was in the country illegally," [CBS Minnesota reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/canadian-born-dentist-freed-after-judge-rules-ice-detention-lacked-legal-basis/?ref=workersrights.news).

He also took aim at the agencies' response: "The hubris of admitting that USCIS made a big mistake, but not even offering any sort of relief is galling."

ICE claims Lizardo overstayed his lawful entry, but it hasn't made public any evidence to back that up. His attorney, Hassan Ahmad, disputes the claim, CBS Minnesota reported. ICE declined to comment on the release and referred questions to DHS.

The ruling frees Lizardo but doesn't give him a green card or end his immigration case. Ahmad's next step is getting the green card approved. If the government wants to detain him again, it must first come back to Davis and prove by clear and convincing evidence that release conditions can't reasonably ensure he shows up to court and keeps the community safe.

## The Americans caught in the same net

Lizardo isn't a citizen. Plenty of the people swept up in the crackdown are. ProPublica has documented [519 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents](https://projects.propublica.org/american-citizens-detained-dhs-civil-rights/list/?ref=workersrights.news) from Inauguration Day through Oct. 21, 2026, and calls that count "almost certainly an undercount" because the government doesn't track these arrests. Each case needed at least two sources to make the list. More than 100 began with agents questioning a person's citizenship, and roughly 300 involved citizens accused of assaulting or impeding officers. DHS has repeatedly said it is not arresting U.S. citizens. ProPublica's case-by-case list shows otherwise. Immigration law gives ICE no power to deport a citizen, so none of those 519 people should have been in ICE custody at all. Each of those cases raises serious due process concerns, the same ones at the heart of Lizardo's case. Habeas corpus, the order that freed him, is also how a citizen held without a lawful basis forces the government to justify it in court.

Immigration agents have killed at least three U.S. citizens, and video has undercut the government's story each time. In March 2025, an ICE agent shot and killed Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, through his car window on South Padre Island, Texas. DHS claimed he "intentionally ran over" an agent. Police body camera video shows Martinez driving slowly, with his brake lights appearing to be on when he was shot, [the Houston Chronicle reported](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/body-camera-footage-texas-ice-shooting-ruben-21961284.php?ref=workersrights.news). The public didn't learn ICE was involved until February 2026, when the watchdog group American Oversight obtained the agency's records. A Texas grand jury declined to charge the agent, [NPR reported](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/22/nx-s1-5900933/ruben-ray-martinez-ice-shooting-texas-maine?ref=workersrights.news).

Then came Minneapolis. On Jan. 7, ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good, 37, in her car in Minneapolis. President Trump claimed she "viciously ran over" an officer; bystander video and Ross's own phone video show her wheels turned away from the officers as he fired, [NBC News reported](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-shootings-list-border-patrol-trump-immigration-operations-rcna254202?ref=workersrights.news). On Jan. 24, a Border Patrol agent killed Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA. Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said he approached agents with a handgun. Videos verified by Reuters show him holding a phone, and footage appears to show an agent taking a gun from him before an officer fired four shots into his back, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/25/who-was-alex-pretti-the-nurse-shot-dead-by-federal-agents-in-minneapolis?ref=workersrights.news). Minnesota says the Justice Department has since [cut off evidence in both killings](https://www.workersrights.news/doj-stops-sharing-evidence-good-pretti-minnesota/).

An ICE agent also killed Jonah Neal, 25, in Memphis in May, outside any immigration operation. His mother called 911 because he was threatening suicide with her handgun, and Homeland Security Investigations agents, part of ICE, showed up instead of local police. The agent who fired was on a federal crime task force. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said it wasn't clear whether Neal died from the gunshot or from self-inflicted stab wounds, and it has shared nothing since to back that up. His family's lawyer, who has seen body camera video, says one agent can be heard saying Neal held a knife, not a gun, seconds before another agent opened fire, [NPR reported](https://www.npr.org/2026/08/23/nx-s1-5936573/memphis-task-force-shooting-video-jonah-neal?ref=workersrights.news).

Others survived, including Marimar Martinez, shot by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago in October 2025\. Federal prosecutors charged her; the charges were dismissed. Last month she sued the federal government, alleging the agent lied about the shooting, [ABC News reported](https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/us-citizen-shot-immigration-agent-chicago-files-lawsuit-137020045?ref=workersrights.news).

If agents come to your job, know your rights before they arrive: here's [what to do if ICE comes to your work](https://www.workersrights.news/what-to-do-if-ice-comes-to-your-work/).

### Sources

- [Judge Blasts ICE Over 'Appalling' Arrest of Dentist](https://www.newsweek.com/judge-blasts-ice-over-appalling-arrest-of-dentist-12649225?ref=workersrights.news), Newsweek
- [Canadian-born dentist freed after judge rules ICE detention lacked legal basis](https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/canadian-born-dentist-freed-after-judge-rules-ice-detention-lacked-legal-basis/?ref=workersrights.news), CBS Minnesota
- [Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 American Citizens in Trump's Immigration Crackdown](https://projects.propublica.org/american-citizens-detained-dhs-civil-rights/list/?ref=workersrights.news), ProPublica
- [Trump's DHS immigration enforcement officers shot 14 people from September 2025 to February 2026](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-shootings-list-border-patrol-trump-immigration-operations-rcna254202?ref=workersrights.news), NBC News
- [Who was Alex Pretti, the nurse shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis?](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/25/who-was-alex-pretti-the-nurse-shot-dead-by-federal-agents-in-minneapolis?ref=workersrights.news), Al Jazeera
- [Full List of ICE, Border Patrol Shootings in 2026](https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-ice-border-patrol-shootings-2026-12466987?ref=workersrights.news), Newsweek
- [Bodycam footage shows shooting of San Antonio man by ICE agent last year](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/body-camera-footage-texas-ice-shooting-ruben-21961284.php?ref=workersrights.news), Houston Chronicle
- [Her son was killed by ICE at a traffic stop. She says she's still waiting for justice](https://www.npr.org/2026/07/22/nx-s1-5900933/ruben-ray-martinez-ice-shooting-texas-maine?ref=workersrights.news), NPR
- [Bodycam shows federal agent was 'unjustified' in Memphis shooting, attorney says](https://www.npr.org/2026/08/23/nx-s1-5936573/memphis-task-force-shooting-video-jonah-neal?ref=workersrights.news), NPR
- [US citizen who was shot by immigration agent files lawsuit](https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/us-citizen-shot-immigration-agent-chicago-files-lawsuit-137020045?ref=workersrights.news), ABC News