Dimitri Vorbe is a prominent businessman who previously ran one of Haiti’s biggest electrical utilities until a clash with the administration of the since-assassinated President Jovenel Moïse. The U.S. Government claims that Mr. Vorbe supported armed gangs officially designated as foreign terrorist organizations. He was arrested in September 2025 by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and has remained in custody without a bond hearing (and without an order of removal). A planned deportation to the Dominican Republic seemingly had to be abandoned after the govenrment of that country refused to accept Mr. Vorbe.
On Monday, Judge Gayles ruled that Dimitri Vorbe is entitled to a bond hearing befoer the immigration judge or that he should be removed under reasonable conditions of supervision. The decision is a significant win for Mr. Vorbe’s legal team. In granting the habeas corpus petition, the district court engaged in a complicated jursidictional and adminsitrative-exhaustion analysis, and ultimately reject the government’s position that Mr. Vorbe could remain in mandatory detention based on a letter from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Secretary Rubio’s letter stated that Mr. Vorbe's presence in the United States could have serious adverse foreign-policy consequences. Mr. Vorbe's bond hearing must occur by August 24 or he must be released, and Judge Gayles is requiring a status report from the parties on August 31. Case number is 1:25-cv-24964-DPG and the order is here.
3 comments:
Not a significant win for Vorbe or his legal team.
ICE will easily put him in front of an immigration judge before 8.24 for the Gayles-ordered bond hearing. Bond will 100% be denied on the basis of flight risk and danger to the community (and, here, likely some diplomatic reasons for which Rubio's letter will 100% carry the day even though it didn't in the habeas proceeding).
All an enormous waste of money, time, judicial, and attorney resources, just for him to find himself right back where he started--in immigration detention.
Due process a waste of time. Hmm.
Fair criticism, in a vacuum. But think OP was just being rhetorical.
His habeas petition was never going to result in his "immediate release." Vorbe's lawyers knew that (or should have).
Instead, this was a highly academic question of whether he was subject to "mandatory" detention and therefore not entitled to a bond hearing at all. He "won." Great. So now he's going to get that bond hearing and the process is going to unfold like the OP suggested--bond denied and him still in civil immigration detention.
So maybe not a waste of time, but definitely all for nothing. And not even beneficial for others, as there are likely no similarly-situated detainees (with individualized Rubio letters).
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