The former Venezuelan mayor who has been living in Cincinnati since 2022 is suing federal immigration officials to be released from Butler County Jail.
With the help of a high-profile Minnesota immigration attorney – who is also fighting to free 5-year-old Liam Cornejo Ramos from jail – Carlos Garcia Odón filed for immediate release in U.S. District Court on Jan. 26. He named U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones among the defendants in the case.
Odón’s detention is a “spectacle” designed to ignite fear in immigrant communities and an “abhorrent waste of public resources,” according to the court filing.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, meanwhile, told The Enquirer that Odón can join other Venezuelans in returning home.
“He freely admitted to illegally crossing the border without inspection by an immigration officer,” an unidentified ICE spokesperson said in an email response to Enquirer questions.
Noting the Trump administration’s recent removal of Venezuela’s president, the spokesperson wrote: “President Trump is bringing stability to Venezuela and bringing to justice an illegitimate narco-terrorist dictator who stole from his own people. Now Venezuelans can go home to a country that they love.”
Odón driving for Amazon with law degree
ICE officials arrested Odón on Jan. 23 when he arrived for a regular ICE check-in appointment. They “never provided a single reason” for detaining him, according to the federal lawsuit.
Odón, 42, grew up in Mérida, Venezuela, earned a law degree there in 2004 and served as the city’s mayor from 2013 to 2017.
The country’s Supreme Court of Justice removed him from office in 2017 and sentenced him to prison for disobeying a court order to remove barricades during protests against the government of then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Odón fled the country shortly after, arriving in the United States around Feb. 1, 2022, at or near the Texas border town of Hidalgo, according to the federal filing. Immigration officials detained him there, releasing him on his own recognizance the same day, the filing said. He applied for asylum on or about July 25, 2022, according to the suit.
The same year, Odón came to Cincinnati with his wife and two children, now aged 5 and 7. He has been supporting the family by driving for Amazon, DoorDash and Spark, Walmart’s delivery service.
Odón applied for asylum, granted work permit
Odón is seeking asylum in the United States because of persecution in his home country, Cincinnati friend Andrew Bove said. He arrived under the federal government’s Temporary Protected Status program, which prevents immigrants from being deported to designated countries in crisis, and was granted a work permit good until 2030, Bove said.
The Department of Homeland Security removed Venezuela from the TPS list, effective Nov. 7, saying it no longer meets conditions for the program.
The ICE media office did not respond to a question about how or whether that decision is related to Odón’s arrest. The federal lawsuit is also silent on that matter.
Bove said Odón would face retribution if returned to Venezuela. Odón’s wife shared the same sentiment on his Instagram page. In Venezuela, she said, “there are no real guarantees of human rights.”
Bove said Odón appeared to be “doing OK” during a Jan. 24 visit at the jail.
“He was discouraged by what’s happened but his spirits were lifted when hearing of how people are supporting him,” said Bove, who has gotten to know the family over the past two years, teaching them to speak English.
ICE encouraging undocumented persons to self-deport
The ICE statement to The Enquirer said the agency wants persons in the United States without legal status to self-deport.
“We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App,” the statement said, referencing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection mobile phone application.
Persons who self-deport receive a $2,600 “exit bonus” – increased from $1,000 Jan. 21 to mark the end of Trump’s first year back in office – and a free flight to their country of origin, the statement said.
“We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream,” the agency said. “If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
Lawyer also handling case of 5-year-old Liam
Marc Prokosch, an immigration attorney with offices in a Minnesota Twin Cities suburb, filed Odón’s request for release, called a writ of habeas corpus.
The filing alleged that the federal government is denying Odón’s right to due process under the law and making him a victim of changing U.S. immigration policies and practices.
“His detention is not the product of process; it is the product of power,” the suit said.
The court ordered lawyers for Odón and the government to submit a proposed schedule on the request for his release no later than Feb. 5.
Prokosch, listed as Odón’s lead attorney, is also representing Adrian Cornejo Arias and his 5-year-old son, Liam, who ICE arrested Jan. 20 as part of the Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. The arrest has drawn widespread attention, as the child had just returned home from preschool with his father and was wearing a Spider Man backpack and blue stocking cap with bunny ears when detained.
The father and son, who sought asylum from Ecuador in December 2024, remain jailed in an ICE facility in Dilley, Texas.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Venezuelan ex-mayor living in Ohio sues feds to win release from jail
Reporting by Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
