Locher’s March 24 order found that the government’s actions “test the border of bad faith.”
A federal judge has criticized the government after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement embarked on a joint operation with the Iowa State Patrol to detain and deport semi-truck drivers.
According to The Iowa Capital Dispatch, the case centers on Suraj Vasal, who came to the United States from India more than four years ago. Vasal submitted an asylum claim before being released on his own recognizance.
On February 11, 2026, Vasal was driving a semi-truck on Interstate 80 in Iowa when he failed to stop for a weigh station. He was pulled over by Iowa State Patrol Trooper Nathaniel Rippey.
Rippey then issued Vasal a ticket before handing him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who then transferred the truck driver to Polk County Jail.
Court records indicate that the Iowa State Patrol conducted the arrest as part of “Operation ICE Wall,” part of which involved stopping and questioning commercial truck drivers at interstate weigh stations across Iowa.
Alexander Smith, an attorney representing Vasal, said that his client is now suing ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, along with Polk County Jail Administrator Cory Williams. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, for its part, said that it had a valid warrant to detain Vasal based on the criminal act of failing to stop at an active weigh station.
Vasal was initially denied a bond hearing, with the Omaha-based immigration court citing Trump administration guidance that people who have lived in the United States for months or years are subject to the same sort of “mandatory detention” imposed upon persons detained at border crossings.
Earlier this year, though, U.S. District Judge Stephen L. Locher gave the immigration court seven days to provide Vasal with a bond hearing.
Locher’s decision was issued on February 24; less than three days later, ICE agents approached Vasal in his cell and told him that he had a half-hour to prepare for a hearing. Vasal was not informed that he would be attending a bond hearing, and did not learn of the meeting’s purpose until he was put onto a Zoom call with an immigration judge.
During the hearing, Vasal asked for more time so that he could arrange legal representation. His request was denied and the hearing continued, with ICE agents arguing that his Vasal’s failure to stop at the weigh station suggested that he was a threat to the community and could pose a flight risk if allowed bond.
The court sided with ICE and denied Vasal the opportunity to obtain bond.
Vasal’s attorney then went back to Locher, telling him that ICE and the immigration court had engaged in a form of “malicious compliance” with the February 24 order.
“The [government’s] ‘bond hearing’ was a sham imposed on Mr. Vasal with no notice and no reasonable opportunity to retain an attorney or prepare for his bonding hearing,” Smith said.
Locher’s March 24 order referenced the incident, with the district court judge finding that the government’s actions “test the border of bad faith.” The government’s position, Locher said, seems to be that it is “acceptable to force a pro se party to participate in a hearing where his liberty is on the line with, at most, 30 minutes’ notice. The timing made it impossible for [Vasal] to marshal evidence in his defense, such as evidence of work authorization, information from his employer, testimony or letters of support from friends and family members, and evidence of his living situation. This is a denial of the basic due process rights.”
Locher also determined that the immigration judge who denied Vasal’s initial request for more time “appears to have violated [Vasal’s] statutory right to counsel by refusing to continue the hearing […] to make matters worse, it appears that the immigration judge—with [the government’s] full support—is trying to blame this court for what happened.”
Sources
Judge criticizes feds and immigration judge for their actions
Judge criticizes feds and immigration judge for their actions
ICE accused of maliciously staging a ‘sham’ hearing for Iowa detainee
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