Iowa Capital Dispatch
June 22, 2026
A judge has ordered the federal government to state why it has jailed, for almost two years, an immigration detainee now being held in the Muscatine County Jail.
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by Mutasim Ibrahim Abdoulrahman Nour, a citizen of Sudan, against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Muscatine County sheriff seeks Nour’s immediate release as well as a court order preventing him from being transferred to a detention facility outside of Iowa while the case is pending.
The lawsuit alleges Nour entered the United States on July 7, 2024, and was immediately apprehended by ICE and placed in federal custody at the Freeborn County Detention Center in Albert Lea, Minn. In December 2025, Nour was transferred without warning to the Muscatine County Jail, where he now remains, the lawsuit alleges.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
SUBSCRIBE
Nour alleges he has now been in federal custody for 23 months, during which time he has never been afforded a hearing at which he could argue for his temporary release on bond.
According to court records, Nour applied for asylum under the provisions of the Convention Against Torture. While an immigration judge initially denied that application, the lawsuit states, Nour filed a successful appeal and the federal government’s Board of Immigration Appeal remanded that case back to the immigration judge for reconsideration of his application.
Court records show that on Jan. 9, 2026, a judge granted Nour’s application, which trigged an appeal by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Nour has since asked the Board of Immigration Appeal to expedite its review of DHS’ appeal.
In light of Nour’s “prior transfer without warning to his counsel,” the lawsuit states, Nour is now seeking an order blocking the government from transferring him to a location outside of Iowa so he can retain access to legal counsel and granting him immediate release from jail.
As part of their case, attorneys for Nour argue that in 2004, ICE stated that in cases where it was appealing a decision granting protection under the Convention Against Torture, the agency’s policy favored the release of the individual, and that ICE and DHS have conceded this policy remains in effect today.
Nour “has been detained for almost two years as his case has wound through immigration court, and DHS’s recent appeal has further prolonged that detention,” the lawsuit states. “As such, (his) detention is unlawful.”
Chief Judge Stephanie Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa recently gave the federal government until Tuesday, June 23, to “state the true cause and lawful duration” of Nour’s confinement and show why the court should not grant the relief sought by Nour.
On Monday, June 22, the federal government sought an extension of that deadline, which Chief Magistrate Judge Stephen B. Jackson granted, giving the government until Thursday, June 25, to file its response in the case.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
SUPPORT
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
