Judge Blasts ICE Over 'Appalling' Arrest of Dentist
Summary
A federal judge in Minnesota ordered ICE to release Canadian dentist William Virgil Lizardo, ruling that his arrest and detention violated his constitutional rights. The judge found that immigration officials sent a hearing notice to an outdated address, and that Lizardo did not learn of the resulting removal order until months later.Key Facts
- U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis ruled on November 1 that Lizardo’s arrest and detention violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
- Davis ordered officials to release Lizardo by 6 p.m. Sunday and barred them from detaining, transferring, or removing him again without court permission.
- Lizardo entered the United States in 2019 on a student visa to study dentistry at the University of Minnesota.
- His wife, a U.S. citizen, filed a family-based immigration petition in 2023; the petition was approved in January 2025.
- USCIS denied Lizardo’s permanent-residency application in January 2026 over a missing certified court record related to a withdrawn 2012 charge.
- DHS sent Lizardo a notice for a March 26 immigration hearing to an address that conflicted with newer address information in government records.
- After Lizardo missed the hearing, an immigration judge ordered him removed in absentia; a court later reopened the case after finding evidence that he had not received notice.
- ICE arrested Lizardo on October 23 at an immigration interview in St. Paul and detained him at Sherburne County Jail.
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