Free Daniel Ramirez Medina: Habeas Corpus in the Age of Trump, writ annotated

Daniel Ramirez Medina is, as of this writing, the first “DREAMer” detained and held by ICE, U.S. Customs Immigration Enforcement, under Donald Trump’s administration. Below is  copy of the legal petition his attorneys have submitted to get him out, annotated by me to help non-lawyers understand the key points. This petition for habeas corpus, a request to free Ramirez from government custody, sums up the extreme menace of a government exercising its power without respect for fundamental rule of law. Ramirez is physically captive when he had every legitimate legal and intuitive expectation that he would not be subjected to this treatment. He was picked up and has been held without observation of due process, a search or seizure warrant, or probable cause to suspect him of a crime. In other words, Trump’s ICE has stripped Ramirez of the most basic protections from government overreach in Anglo-American law, protections with roots deep in English and U.S. legal precedent and tradition.