Lawsuit plaintiff arrested by ICE; attorneys alleging ‘Shocking act of retaliation'

LOS ANGELES - Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday arrested a plaintiff involved in a class action lawsuit challenging raids in Los Angeles, prompting concerns from lawyers of retaliation and calls for his release.

Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina, a Pasadena resident, was detained Thursday during a check-in with ICE, according to his immigration lawyer, Stacy Tolchin. Villegas sued the federal government last year, after he and two other day laborers were arrested by immigration agents on June 18 as they waited at a Pasadena bus stop.

An immigration judge ordered Villegas, who is from Panama, released on a $5,000 bond the following month and he's been checking in with ICE since then, Tolchin said. Villegas had been scheduled to go before an immigration judge on April 24, on a motion to terminate removal proceedings against him.

Following Villegas' arrest Thursday, Tolchin filed a habeas petition in federal court, challenging his incarceration and demanding his immediate release. In it, Tolchin described the lawsuit as "one of the first cases filed challenging the Trump Administration's immigration roving patrols as violative of the Fourth Amendment." She had not been given a reason for the re-detention.

"I think 100% it is because of this lawsuit," Tolchin said. "He was incredibly brave to come forward and to be a plaintiff. ... To be targeted because he is pursuing his rights is unacceptable, but not surprising given what we've been seeing."

The Department of Homeland Security said in an email response that Villegas was arrested again "after multiple violations of his supervised release - including missing required check-ins."

"This criminal illegal alien has a rap sheet that includes felonies for forgery and fraud, and a misdemeanor for driving under the influence," the department said.

Villegas' attorney said that he has followed every rule of his supervised release.

An ICE detainee locator on Friday morning showed that Villegas is being held at the ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, California.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network announced a rally and news conference on Friday afternoon outside of the B-18 detention facility in downtown L.A. to denounce Villegas' "unlawful arrest and incarceration." Villegas arrived in the country on a nonimmigrant visa in 2012 and has lived in the country for more than 13 years.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, other groups and private attorneys filed the lawsuit - now known as Vasquez Perdomo vs. Mullin - on behalf of several immigrant rights groups, the three immigrants picked up at a bus stop, including Villegas, and two U.S. citizens, one of whom was held despite showing agents his identification.

Villegas was waiting at a bus stop in Pasadena with other day laborers, including Pedro Vasquez Perdomo and Carlos Osorto, when masked armed men aggressively approached and arrested them "based on their appearance," Tolchin said in the habeas petition. The arrests unfolded as part of Operation at Large, a large-scale immigration operation in Southern California.

The Vasquez Perdomo lawsuit resulted in an initial temporary restraining order that was upheld by the 9th Circuit. That restraining order was later stayed by the Supreme Court. The case remains ongoing, with a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for September.

"It is a shocking act of retaliation for the federal government to arrest someone who has courageously dared to call out the government's unlawful immigration raids," Mohammad Tajsar, a lawyer with the ACLU of Southern California, said in a statement. "Because the First Amendment protects everyone's right to sue the government, we expect Isaac to be released immediately."

Lauren Michel Wilfong, a lawyer with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said they learned of Villegas' recent arrest after receiving a voicemail from the detention center around midday Thursday.

Wilfong said Villegas had been complying with all his immigration requirements since his release last year.

"I imagine that he's very surprised, as are we, at his detention," Wilfong said. "It certainly raises concerns as well about if there's First Amendment retaliation happening. Isaac, along with Pedro and Carlos, made the decision that they wanted to fight not just for themselves but for everybody. ... The possibility that that has now led to further danger and harm for Isaac is really troubling to us."

Across the street from the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, not far from the entrance to the basement of the ICE facility known as B18, demonstrators on Friday called for Villegas' release.

The Anti-Ice band, Los Jornaleros del Norte (the Day Laborers of the North), played music as cars and buses passed by.

"Once you're out on bond, you cannot be arrested again unless there's a material change that makes you a flight risk or a danger to others, and nothing like that has happened," Tolchin told the crowd. "The only thing that we know that's happening is that next week on April 24, we are set to get a decision on the motion to terminate his removal case before an immigration judge and that motion asserts that he was unlawfully arrested and detained."

She said by detaining her client and transferring him to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, federal officials are trying to move his case to a new judge in hopes of getting more favorable rulings.

"ICE does not get to dictate what the immigration courts do and that is exactly what it is trying to do now," she said.

Jose Madera, director at the Pasadena Community Job Center, wanted people to know more about Villegas than his immigration status.

"He rides his bike to his local taco stand on his way to his favorite park - Villa Park," Madera said. "Everyone knows him for his big smile and that's what's been taken away from us. That's what people are feeling: Their neighbor, their community member, the person they always see is not there."

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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 4:29 PM.