Federal Judge Releases Two Undocumented Immigrants

On Monday, a Boston-based federal judge ordered the release of two undocumented immigrants, ruling that their Constitutional rights had been violated when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained them. US District Court Judge, Mark L Wolf, wrote a 62-page decision in which he slammed the federal agency for not following its own procedures.

The cases of Brazilian immigrants, Lucimar de Souza and Eduardo Junqueira, were at the center of the judge’s decision, the former of whom had been detained at a government office and separated from her children. On 8 May, Wolf had insisted on their release after demanding ICE provide justification about why their detention should continue.

Wolf wrote that there were profound human consequences to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s illegal actions toward the two immigrants, which would continue unless the court intervened. Wolf pointed out that although the agency has the right to hold undocumented immigrants in detention for up to 90 days while waiting for their removal from the US as a result of a federal statute, the two had been held for over 90 days without following the process.

Wolf said that it would be unfair to continue holding Junqueira and de Souza in detention due to ICE’s repeated violations of its own regulations and indifference to obeying the law, adding that the two are still subject to deportation. ICE stated that it was reviewing the judge’s decision.