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detained by immigration officials chicago A federal judge has ruled that it is illegal to release a man whose 16-year-old daughter is being treated for advanced cancer on bail and must be given a bond hearing by October 31.
Ruben’s lawyer Torres Maldonado, 40, who was detained on October 18, has petitioned for his release as his deportation case goes through the system. While U.S. District Judge Jeremy Daniel said in an order Friday that Torres’ detention is illegal and a violation of his due process rights, he also said he could not order his immediate release.
“While being sympathetic to the plight of the petitioner’s daughter due to her health concerns, the court must act within the ambit of relevant laws, rules and precedents,” the judge wrote on Friday.
Torres’ attorney took the decision as a victory for now.
“We are pleased that the judge ruled in our favor in determining that ICE unlawfully detained Reuben. We will now take the fight to immigration court so we can secure Reuben’s release on bond while he applies for permanent residence status,” his attorney Kalman Resnick said in a statement Friday night.
Torres, a painter and home renovator, was taken into custody at a suburban Home Depot store. Their daughter, Ofelia Torres, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of soft-tissue cancer called metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in December and was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
According to his lawyers, Torres entered the United States in 2003. He and his partner Sandibel Hidalgo also have a 4-year-old son. According to court records, both children are US citizens.
“My father, like many other fathers, is a hard-working man who gets up early in the morning and goes to work without any complaints, thinking about his family,” Ofelia said in a posted video. gofundme A page was set up for his family. “I find it deeply unfair that hard-working immigrant families are being targeted simply because they were not born here.”
Department of Homeland Security Torres is alleged to have lived in the United States illegally for years and has a history of driving offenses, including driving without a valid license, uninsured and speeding.
“This is nothing more than a desperate Hail Mary attempt to keep a criminal illegal alien in our country,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “The trump The administration is fighting for the rule of law and the American people.”
At a hearing on Thursday, at which Ofelia appeared in a wheelchair, lawyers for the family told the judge that she had been released from the hospital just a day before her father’s arrest so she could see family and friends. But since his arrest, she was unable to continue treatment “due to stress and disruption”, he said.
Federal prosecutor Craig Oswald told the court that the government did not want to release Torres because he did not cooperate during his arrest.
Several elected officials held a news conference Wednesday to protest Torres’ arrest. The Chicago area has been at the center of a major immigration crackdown called “Operation Midway Blitz”, which began in early September.