A Venezuelan man arrested and jailed in Orange County on an immigration detainer earlier this month was released after a federal judge ruled ICE had no reason to keep him in custody, his attorneys announced Wednesday.

Javier Gimenez-Rivero was welcomed by elated family members as he emerged, unshackled and free to leave, from the federal courthouse in Orlando following a successful habeas corpus petition filed by his lawyers. He had been in custody since Jan. 7, after he was arrested by Orange County deputies who questioned his immigration status, according to a statement by attorney Phillip Arroyo.

“Thank you, thank you,” sobbed a loved one as she embraced Arroyo and his team following Gimenez-Rivero’s release, captured in a video posted online by The Arroyo Law Firm.

Gimenez-Rivero’s release is the latest blow dealt in court to federal authorities as the Trump administration and its allies, including top Florida officials, seek to ramp up mass deportation efforts.

He was just one of more than 800 people booked in the Orange County Jail on immigration holds since Jan. 1, though many are people who were rebooked at the facility. More than 10,000 more have been arrested statewide since April under the so-called Operation Tidal Wave, touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis as “the largest joint immigration enforcement operation in ICE’s history.”

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement toured a warehouse in east Orlando for a possible processing center in Central Florida, home to one of just three immigration courts in the state.

Like scores of others arrested in Central Florida, Gimenez-Rivero was arrested during a vehicle stop. In July, an Orlando Sentinel analysis found 55% of ICE detainees in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties were arrested under similar circumstances.

In Gimenez-Rivero’s case, it’s unclear what prompted deputies to stop him, and an affidavit detailing his arrest and requested by the Sentinel was not immediately provided.

The Jan. 12 petition demanding ICE, the Sheriff’s Office and jail authorities explain Gimenez-Rivero’s continued detention claimed he had no pending charges or a criminal record. He was arrested anyway and refused release despite having Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, as well as an employment authorization card, a social security number and a valid driver’s license, court documents show.

Authorities, represented by a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, filed a response to Gimenez-Rivero’s petition ahead of Wednesday’s evidentiary hearing before U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton, but access was blocked in court records as of Wednesday evening. The DOJ and OCSO did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Dalton’s ruling, which was also not available in court records.

In his statement, Arroyo affirmed: “Fear, slogans and agendas have no legal force. The rule of law does.”

“The government cannot illegally jail someone first because they are an immigrant and then search for legal authority later,” Arroyo said. “That is not how America works. That is not how due process works. And today, a federal judge made that unmistakably clear.”

Arroyo, who along with law partner Josephine Arroyo makes up part of the eponymous firm, made headlines in June after they successfully obtained the release of two women from ICE custody in Texas after being arrested in Central Florida.

Similarly, both women were stopped for traffic offenses and were placed on immigration holds despite being lawfully present in the country.

Gimenez-Rivero’s case, like the others, “is a reminder that the Constitution still has teeth, even in these politically charged times,” Josephine Arroyo said.

“Due process is not a privilege, it is a guarantee,” she added. “When the federal government crosses that line as they did here, federal courts exist to draw it back.”