U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken on Thursday approved the plaintiffs' request to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning they could file a similar lawsuit in the future. The ruling came nearly a year after the CLEAR Clinic filed the suit alongside Pineros y Campesinos del Noroeste, Oregon's largest Latino labor union known as PCUN, and Leon X, an anonymous 32-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient from Mexico.

The lawsuit followed Operation Black Rose, a federal operation launched in October 2025 to arrest immigrants living across the Willamette Valley. The effort resulted in more than 1,200 immigration arrests in the last three months of 2025, reflecting the impact of President Donald Trump's directive requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to raise its daily arrest quotas from 1,000 to 3,000.

To meet those goals, the plaintiffs alleged, the Trump administration denied people in detention access to counsel or cut short their contact with legal help after only a few minutes. They also claimed ICE agents pressured people to waive their rights and sign voluntary departure orders.

Aiken's dismissal follows her September decision denying a preliminary injunction that would have prevented federal agents from denying legal counsel to detained immigrants while the case proceeded. The judge found the plaintiffs did not provide enough evidence to back their claims that agents were purposefully denying people in detention access to counsel before transferring them out of state.

In that September ruling, Aiken also determined that PCUN and Leon X lacked standing. PCUN, which was suing on behalf of its members, did not name a single member in the suit who had been denied access to counsel after immigration detention. Aiken called this "fatal" to having standing. She said Leon X's fear of being detained is reasonable, but it is not different from how any other immigrant across the country may feel right now.

Despite the dismissal, Jordan Cunnings, legal director at Innovation Law Lab, which represented the plaintiffs, said the case produced extensive evidence proving federal immigration interference with Oregonians' access to counsel.

"Documenting ICE's disregard for the fundamental right to an attorney is a win that we can build on," Cunnings said in a blog post.

The federal government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The dismissal leaves immigrant advocates without immediate court-ordered protections as ICE continues enforcement operations in the Willamette Valley. But because the case was dismissed without prejudice, the groups retain the option to refile, and Cunnings' comments suggest they view the evidence gathered as a foundation for future legal action.