An immigration judge granted the asylum request of Venezuelan activist and former political prisoner Gregory Sanabria on Wednesday and ordered his release, his lawyer told EFE.

The United States government released Sanabria on Thursday after he spent four months in an ICE detention center in Texas.

Sanabria's prolonged detention, which began last June, occurred amid a campaign by the Donald Trump administration to identify and arrest Venezuelan migrants, particularly those who arrived in the last three years fleeing the political and economic crisis in their country.

Sanabria, 31, was a student activist who participated in the wave of protests against the government of Nicolas Maduro in 2014 and, as a result, was imprisoned for four years in El Helicoide prison, known for reports of abuses human rights.

In 2022, he emigrated to the United States via the dangerous Darien routed and surrendered to authorities at the southern border, who released him after a “credible fear” interview. He had been processing his asylum request ever since.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Houston arrested him in June during his annual follow-up appointment, and he has since remained detained in a Texas facility.

His case drew condemnation from international organizations such as the UN and Amnesty International, as well as several US legislators.

“This is a breath of fresh air for the Venezuelan community and for me, as their best friend,” he said Lennard Garcia, also a migrant and former activist who was imprisoned in Venezuela.

During the months of detention, Sanabria faced the possibility of being deported to Venezuela—the country he fled due to political persecution—or remaining indefinitely detained. That period, Garcia said, was a “revictimization.”

After the historic allocation of funds for Trump's immigration agenda, the government has stepped up migrant detention across the country. The United States currently holds more than 61,200 migrants in custody,the highest number in several years. Nearly half of them, 45 percent, have no criminal record, according to data compiled by Syracuse University researcher Austin Kocher. By Alejandra Arredondo

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