A federal judge in California has halted efforts by the Trump administration to deport a 68-year-old Nigerian man who has lived in the United States for over four decades, citing procedural failures by immigration officials in revoking his supervised release.
US District Judge Janis Sammartino ruled that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency violated its own protocols by detaining Felix Eni without properly explaining the basis for ending his 17-year order of supervision.
Eni, who first arrived in the US on a student visa in March 1980, was convicted of a misdemeanor related to obtaining a student loan improperly, leading to his initial deportation to Nigeria after serving time.
He re-entered the country in 2001, worked as a nurse until retiring in 2024, and obtained a driver’s license to drive for ride-sharing services Lyft and Uber.
In 2008, Eni faced deportation again, but a court blocked his removal to Nigeria, placing him under supervised release that required regular government check-ins, which he complied with fully until his recent detention.
The latest incident occurred on October 31, 2025, when Eni was stopped at a military checkpoint while transporting a Lyft passenger to Camp Pendleton, flagged as an alien with “limited” status, and handed over to ICE without immediate explanation.
The following day, he received a notice revoking his supervision due to an unspecified “change in circumstances” and indicating plans to repatriate him to a third country.
In her decision, Judge Sammartino criticized the notice as inadequate, stating: “These plain statements are insufficient to provide notice and do not demonstrate what circumstances had changed in petitioner’s case to justify re-detention.”
She added: “Petitioner cannot be expected to ‘respond to the reasons for revocation stated in the notification’ when the notice does not actually state any reasons for revocation.”
The judge dismissed ICE’s argument about improved US-Nigeria relations as irrelevant, underscoring that agencies must adhere to their established rules for re-detaining individuals, including providing an opportunity for an informal interview.
Sammartino ordered Eni’s immediate release back to his preexisting supervision conditions and barred future detention without full compliance with procedures.
The ruling comes amid broader scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies, though Eni’s case highlights longstanding procedural safeguards for long-term residents.
