detainee

by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
January 15, 2026

A federal judge has ordered the Muscatine County Jail to release an ICE detainee who had been incarcerated for almost a year after a judge ruled in his favor on an asylum request.

Court records indicate Jose Yugar-Cruz, 36, entered the United States in July 2024 after fleeing his home country of Bolivia. In court filings, Yugar-Cruz alleged that while living in Bolivia, he operated a small business and had “refused to facilitate the drug trade by police officials” who then detained him and tortured him.

In the court filings, Yugar-Cruz said he fled to Mexico, entered the United States on foot at the Arizona border, and then “sought out and surrendered” himself to federal immigration officials. He was then taken into custody and jailed, after which he applied for asylum based on the threat of persecution in Bolivia.