A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a young mother who came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor from El Salvador almost a decade ago.
Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, who doesn’t have a criminal record, was detained by ICE officers on July 17 and was taken to the Kandiyohi County jail in central Minnesota. Her two young children were born in the U.S. and are citizens.
A senior U.S. District Court Judge ordered the 26-year-old’s release on a $10,000 bond as her immigration case progresses. She was set to be released on Wednesday, even as the Department of Homeland Security took steps to deport her.
According to Fox 9, her attorney, Gloria Contreras Edin, said, “She wants to be reunited with her children immediately.”
“The breast milk that she’s feeding her toddler is the only thing that her toddler can take,” she added. “He is allergic to other forms of milk. And so, unfortunately, this baby has been without his mother’s milk now for 26 days, and she wants to get to him right away and start nursing.”
As of Monday, more than 60,000 people were in immigration detention, breaking a record set during President Donald Trump’s first stint in office, internal ICE records reveal, according to The New York Times. In January, about 39,000 people were in immigration custody. The previous spike came in August 2019, when 55,654 people were detained. Trump has made the increased crackdown on immigration one of the top priorities of his second term.
A previous ruling by an immigration judge stated that Aguilar Maldonado, who’s seeking asylum and lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, wasn’t a public safety threat, nor a flight risk. DHS appealed the ruling to keep the mother in custody.
Attorneys for Aguilar Maldonado moved the dispute to the U.S. District Court in Minnesota, requesting that a federal judge order her release via a Habeas Corpus petition on July 31. Following Tuesday’s oral arguments, senior U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered that she be released on bond.
One of Aguilar Maldonado’s lawyers, Hannah Brown, told Fox 9, “We are feeling very relieved that the judge made the right decision in this case.”
Brown told the court on Tuesday that Aguilar Maldonado was suffering from emotional and mental distress due to the separation from her children. She added that her client faces physical harm as she can’t pump on a set schedule or in sanitary conditions.
Nelson said from the bench that ICE had violated their own policies for pregnant and nursing mothers. She noted that while ICE argues that an executive order from Trump, signed in January, revoked the rule, “nowhere in that policy is there a mention of nursing mothers.” She went on to argue that agents made a “mistake” when arresting Aguilar Maldonado, according to CBS Minnesota.
“In the court’s view, the irreparable harm to separating a nursing mother and her child is self-evident,” said Nelson.
A close friend of the mother, Telma Vides, said, “It is just amazing what God can do to get her out where it was not a possibility.”
Vides and Aguilar Maldonado are members of St. Paul church, which helped raise $10,000 for the bond. Church members were in the federal courtroom on Tuesday and erupted into a standing ovation when the release order came down.
“These three weeks [have] been a roller coaster,” Vides added. “No and then yes, and then no and yes, and tomorrow, next week, and then another court date and another court day, and then nothing. And we were like, ‘What is going to happen? Is she really going to come out?’ Are they really going to release her?’”
Aguilar Maldonado was set to post her $10,000 bond on Wednesday, leading to her release. Her immigration case continues next Tuesday when she’s set to return to court for proceedings as the government attempts to have her deported as an illegal immigrant.
The Independent has contacted Contreras Edin and ICE for comment.
