A federal judge has already ruled. A Haitian mother with serious mental illness must be released from immigration detention. Now we need to make sure it actually happens.

The woman, in her 40s, came to the United States legally with her husband and two young children after fleeing Haiti. She entered on humanitarian parole and settled in Massachusetts. In December 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained her on an assault charge that was later dismissed. She has been locked up for more than six months — most of it at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in Vermont.

She was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder before arriving at the facility. She had been prescribed psychiatric medication. But according to court records, she received no psychiatric medication during her entire time in Vermont. A corrections officer raised urgent concerns about her mental state in late February. Outside clinicians who evaluated her diagnosed a serious psychotic disorder. The prison's own healthcare provider, a private contractor called Wellpath, cleared her as having no mental health needs.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Lanthier ordered her released, finding that holding her for more than six months without any individualized hearing to justify her detention violated her Fifth Amendment right to due process. The criminal charge that led to her arrest had been dismissed. The government identified no evidence she was dangerous or a flight risk.

Judge Lanthier's order is clear. This woman should be free. She should be back with her children.

Sign this petition to call on ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to comply fully with the court's order, release her without delay, and stop using immigration detention to hold people who pose no risk and have committed no crime.