Oct. 25 (UPI) — Due process rights were violated when federal officers detained the father of a girl who has cancer without a bond hearing pending deportation to Mexico, a federal judge in Chicago ruled.
U.S. District of Northern Illinois Judge Jeremy Daniel on Friday ordered Ruben Torres Maldonado, 40, to be given a bond hearing no later than Oct. 31 while he faces deportation as his 16-year-old daughter undergoes cancer treatment, WBBM-TV reported.
He remains in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility pending the outcome of the bond hearing, which Daniel said should have been done already to uphold his right to due process.
His attorneys sought an immediate release, but Daniel said the “appropriate remedy” to his detainment is to hold a bond hearing as soon as possible.
“While sympathetic to the plight the petitioner’s daughter faces due to her health concerns, the court must act within the constraints of the relevant statutes, rules and precedents,” Daniel said.
Daniel was appointed to the court by former President Joe Biden.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary. Tricia McLaughlin called the legal challenge a “desperate Hail Mary attempt to keep a criminal in our country,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
He “did not comply with instructions from the officers and attempted to flee in his vehicle and backed into a government vehicle,” she explained.
McLaughlin, in a prepared statement, said “U.S. Border Patrol conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation that resulted” in his arrest in Niles, Ill., on Oct. 18, according to WLS-TV.
“He has a history of habitual driving offenses and has been charged multiple times with driving without insurance, driving without a valid license and speeding,” she said. “He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”
Moldonado, 40, has illegally resided in the United States since entering in 2003 and has lived in the greater Chicago area with his partner for the past 20 years.
He has worked as a painter for the same company over the past 20 years.
The Trump administration is calling for the immediate detention of all people when encountered and who are suspected of illegally entering or otherwise residing in the United States.
The detention mandate is based on a federal law that Maldonado’s legal team says only applies to “non-citizens who recently arrived at a border or port of entry.”
Daniel agreed that the law does not apply to Moldonado and ordered his bond hearing to ensure due process in his case.