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A look inside Camp 57 of Louisiana Lockup, Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La.

 STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK

Federal this week tried to deport a 77-year-old Palestinian-born man β€” a 51-year U.S. resident living in north LouisianaΒ β€”Β after a federal judge ordered him released from custody, in the latest clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and the judiciary.

In a May 29 ruling, Judge of the Middle District of Louisiana lashed out at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detaining Akram Mahmoud Omar β€œwith no end in sight,” ordering him released from detention at the State Penitentiary at Angola. Jackson cited what he deemed violations of Omar’s due process rights.

A Palestinian national who received a final deportation order in 2005, Omar had been held at the Angola-based Louisiana ICE Processing Center since he was detained after a routine ICE appointment in October. In April, he had a heart attack inside the facility, leading to triple-bypass surgery at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

Once Jackson issued his May order for Omar’s release, he returned home to Bossier City. Omar was still recovering from his heart attack when ICE agents arrived at his house Monday and tried to deport him β€œwithin hours,” his attorneys alleged in an emergency court filing that day.

The move spurred another blistering intervention from the federal judge.

β€œICE shall IMMEDIATELY RELEASE Omar from ICE custody,” reads Jackson’s fresh order, issued June 8. The appointee of former President Barack Obama ordered the administration not to β€œRE-DETAIN or REMOVE Omar from the United States” pending a June 24 hearing.

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Louisiana Middle District Court Judge Brian A. Jackson, seen Thursday, February 6, 2025, at the Russell B. Long Federal Building in Baton Rouge, La.,

Though ICE stood down and has not deported Omar β€” an allegation that has surfaced in where federal judges ordered detainees released β€” the legal spat highlights between federal officials and the judiciary amid the administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.

Judges appointed by presidents of both political parties have said administration officials ignored or outright defied their orders, beginning last year when Washington, D.C.-based federal Judge James Boasberg the administration of "willful disobedience of judicial orders" by flying a plane of Venezuelan deportees to El Salvador.

Scrutiny over the administration’s tactics has echoed in some Louisiana federal courtrooms β€” particularly in the Baton Rouge-based Middle District, which received a new flood of after the opened last year in West Feliciana Parish.

Omar’s case also underscores concerns from immigrant advocates over conditions within that facility, which is housed in a former high-security area of the sprawling prison and nicknamed β€œCamp 57” in honor of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

The lockup opened as federal officials sought space to hold people caught in the administration’s immigration dragnet. Immigration officials billed it as a high-security destination for β€œworst of the worst” deportees, but it has frequently housed people with non-violent or aged convictions.

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Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, center, speaks outside of Camp 57, Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. With him, from left, are Attorney General Pam Bondi, ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

In an an emailed statement provided by an unnamed Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, the agency said Omar had been re-detained β€œfor failure to report.” Omar was unexpectedly summoned to an ICE office on Monday, according , which first reported his arrest; but his attorney directed him not to show up, suspecting the appointment was an attempt to deport him despite Jackson’s earlier order.

The DHS spokesperson said Omar β€œreceived full due process.”

Born in Palestinian territory in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War, Omar came to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident in 1975.

He has a 2005 conviction for a β€œnonviolent drug offense” which triggered his final removal order, according to Jackson’s May 29 order. (DHS’ statement described his criminal record as β€œmanufacturing amphetamine and possession of dangerous drugs.”) He was detained by ICE that year, and the agency tried to deport him to Israel and Jordan, records show. But the countries refused to accept him, and Omar was released after ICE found he would not β€œpose a threat to the safety of the community,” Jackson’s order says.

Omar was also convicted and ordered to pay $500 in 2022 for misusing a trademark. ICE found the conviction did not violate the terms of his release, Jackson’s order says, and he was allowed to remain at-large. He is married and has five children, all U.S. citizens, according to the order.

Omar’s attorney, Ken Mayeaux, did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Times-Picayune.

It was not immediately clear where federal officials planned to deport Omar when he was re-detained Monday. In some other cases, detainees at the Angola immigration site have been marked for deportation to β€œthird-countries” when circumstances in their home countries prevented U.S. officials from sending deportation flights there.

In March, a different Baton Rouge-based federal judge weighed the case of an Ethiopian man, Ibrahim Mohammed, whose attorneys argued had been stripped of due process as the government tried to deport him under the β€œthird country” program.

ICE sought at first to send Mohammed to one tiny African nation, Eswatini, and later another, Equatorial Guinea.

The judge, John W. DeGravelles, expressed bewilderment that has reverberated in Middle District courtrooms toward the government tactics amid the from detainees at the Angola immigrant facility.

β€œThe court knew nothing about Eswatini prior to this hearing,” DeGravelles, also an Obama appointee, said then. β€œI had to look it up.”

James Finn covers federal law enforcement and courts for The Times-Picayune | ΜΗΠΔ΄«Γ½. Contact him at jfinn@theadvocate.com or on Signal at jamesfinn.82.

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