Canadian dentist detained by ICE in Minnesota released after federal court ruling

A Canadian dentist detained by U.S. federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota during a green card interview is back home after being ordered released by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis wrote in his ruling that the arrest and detention of Dr. William Lizardo, 32, originally of Mississauga, Ont., violated his constitutional rights.

Lizardo moved to the U.S. on a student visa in 2019 to study at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, according to court documents. He graduated in 2023 and married an American that same year. They had a daughter two years later.

Lizardo’s wife filed a petition for an alien relative in September 2023, while Lizardo applied to adjust his status to permanent residency. The relative petition was approved in January 2025, according to the court.

Lizardo practised dentistry in federally-designated shortage areas until his work authorization was revoked, at which time he started volunteering at a low-cost clinic in Burnsville, Minn., according to the court documents.

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Hearing orders sent to wrong address

In January, his request for permanent residency was denied because he had failed to provide a certified document from Ontario.

Orders to appear at subsequent hearings were sent to the wrong address. Lizardo missed the hearings and was subsequently arrested by ICE on Oct. 23, detained at Sherburne County Jail and ordered removed from the U.S.

The judge called the facts of the case “appalling” — noting that while the couple moved several times, each time Lizardo “filed changes of address” with the post office and with U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS). “In turn, USCIS communicated with Petitioner at each new address.”

The judge also noted that Lizardo had never been arrested during his time in the U.S.

Lizardo filed to have the order of removal rescinded as he had never received the notices for the hearings. That request was granted by an immigration court on Oct. 28 after it found he had provided sufficient evidence of lack of notice.

ICE argued Lizardo should be kept in custody while the green card case was being decided.

The judge ruled ICE agents had no reason to believe Lizardo was a flight risk and ordered him immediately released.

“Because the facts presented here are so appalling and so well supported, the court could issue a long order, complete with colourful details about, and commentary on, the abuses suffered by Petitioner,” the judge wrote.

Instead, he said he simply wanted to make sure Lizardo didn’t spend another night in jail.

‘This was a paperwork error’

Lizardo’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, confirmed to CBC News that his client was finally released Sunday evening, hours after the judge’s order.

Lizardo is now waiting for a USCIS decision on his green card application, and Ahmad says he hopes that given what his client has been through, that decision will come soon.

“This was a paperwork error,” Ahmad said. “That’s all it was. And they literally made a federal case out of it.”

Ahmad says Lizardo cannot be detained again by ICE while he is waiting for the decision on his green card. “I made sure to put that in the order when I filed and, and the judge signed on,” he said.

“This whole removal proceedings was tainted from the very beginning,” Ahmad said, adding that he hopes ICE will just let it go.