who released another detainee earlier this month,<\/a> said the warrant ordering Junier Silva-Parucho\u2019s arrest on Jan. 29 arrest was signed three hours after he was taken into custody. The warrant for Silva-Parucho, a construction worker with a pending asylum application and valid employment authorization, was therefore invalid, the judge ruled.<\/p>\n\u201cIf the court considers it an invalid warrant, I can concede that \u2026 we would no longer defend it,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Bloor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find that the detention was illegal based on the sequence of events,\u201d replied Antoon, appointed by President Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n
Following that hearing, Antoon ordered Fadya Contreras de Rondon, who was arrested Jan. 9 along with her husband, released because while her arrest warrant and her notice to appear in court bear the name of the same agent they have different signatures.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou represent the United States, this is a serious matter,\u201d Antoon told Bloor. \u201cI can\u2019t find that any of these are signed validly because these have been signed differently. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with immigration personnel. There are only two explanations for this \u2014 and neither of them are good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The records Antoon cited are not publicly accessible in online court databases. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, didn\u2019t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Antoon\u2019s accusations.<\/p>\n
The release of the two immigrants \u2014 and a third set free earlier Thursday in the same courthouse by another judge \u2014 is part of a national trend. Federal judges across the country, including in Orlando, have rejected the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to detain everyone facing deportation. The judges have argued that the administration\u2019s position violates longstanding legal practice as it would mean holding indefinitely migrants who are not charged with crimes.<\/p>\n
Politico reported last month that more than 300 federal judges, appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, have been releasing people from ICE custody in recent months.<\/p>\n
The two people released by Antoon reacted with emotion as they were unshackled, released and reunited with their loved ones. Silva-Parucho, whose handcuffs were ordered to be removed before his hearing began, broke into elated sobs as the judge read the order releasing him.<\/p>\n
Contreras de Rondon flashed a smile and blew a kiss at her husband, Johnny Rondon-Rodriguez, who was released from ICE custody last week, as he observed anxiously from the gallery. The couple had not seen each other since they were arrested last month by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol while driving on Interstate-75.<\/p>\n
Outside the courthouse, the two were inseparable as they spoke with reporters while celebrating their reunion. Her hand stroked his as he wrapped his arm around her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe told them we are Venezuelan, and that was enough for them to detain us even though we had valid documents,\u201d said Contreras de Rondon. The two work in real estate and were on their way to show a house in Ocala when they were taken into custody. \u201cWhat we suffered is very easy to say but very difficult to have lived,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In open court, she described being mocked by ICE and jail officials while in custody.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey treated us badly,\u201d she told reporters later, speaking of herself and fellow detainees to reporters. \u201cThey made us feel like we were garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both of the people released Thursday were represented by Phillip Arroyo, a local attorney who has gotten 17 clients freed by filing habeas corpus petitions in federal court. These petitions require the government to explain their detentions.<\/p>\n
He said he had not realized the paperwork and signature issue the judge flagged but it did not shock him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know if this is a scheme that was just discovered by the judge,\u201d Arroyo said, \u201cbut it would not be surprising for us as attorneys to discover that ICE is incurring in these illegal practices when they violated court orders across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miguel Rincon-Hernandez, another Arroyo client, was released Thursday after the government confirmed that he posted bond at a hearing, despite concerns that the payment had not been processed in time<\/p>\n
Generally, the judges who\u2019ve released detainees say the federal government is wrongly arguing that a statute that historically applied to migrants caught at the border applies to anyone seeking to gain legal status to remain in the United States.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of judges, including five in the Middle District of Florida that partly covers Central Florida, have argued that detained migrants are entitled to bond hearings ahead of removal proceedings.<\/p>\n
But last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision ruled in the government\u2019s favor. Although it doesn\u2019t impact migrants released in Florida, a similar case is being heard in the 11th Circuit, which would cover Florida and most of the southeast.<\/p>\n
Arguments in that case are scheduled to be heard later this year.<\/p>\n
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