A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Eleandro Almeida De Souza, finding that immigration authorities failed to prove he was a flight risk.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy granted De Souza’s motion to enforce in a Friday opinion in the District of Massachusetts. The court had already directed his release in a docket order so his detention would not continue while the written decision was prepared.
De Souza entered the United States in September 2019 and was released on an order of recognizance. ICE took him into custody around Aug. 14, 2026. After he filed a habeas petition, the court ordered that he be released or given an individualized bond hearing.That hearing was held Aug. 24. An immigration judge then found De Souza to be a flight risk and denied bond. The government’s main evidence was a Form I-213, a DHS arrest record, stating that De Souza stopped his vehicle, then ran from ICE officers, jumped fences, and was later detained on Newton Street.
De Souza’s lawyer offered a different account: that the stop was aggressive, that he was boxed in by vehicles, that he did not see emergency lights or hear sirens, and that he ran out of fear. Counsel said he later walked back toward his car and was taken into custody without a struggle.
The I-213 said officers were wearing body cameras, but no video was submitted.
Murphy ruled that the government must prove flight risk by a preponderance of the evidence and that a rebutted, uncorroborated Form I-213 is not enough as a matter of law. The judge compared I-213s to police reports, which courts have said cannot carry substantial weight without corroboration. Murphy also wrote that even if De Souza initially fled, that would not by itself establish a flight risk for bond purposes.
The opinion went further, saying the court no longer applies a presumption of regularity to ICE after what it described as repeated misrepresentations in other cases. The motion to enforce was granted, and De Souza was ordered immediately released.
