The young Bowling Green resident arrested by ICE and held in a Louisiana detention facility on charges of being in the U.S. illegally is returning to southern Kentucky after being released on bond late Tuesday evening.
An immigration judge on Monday set a $1,500 bond for Ernesto Manuel-Andres, with lawyers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security saying immediately afterward they would appeal the decision, something that would keep the native of Guatemala in detention for another 30 days.
But the Daily News reports the founder and CEO of Fugees Family, a group advocating for the rights of refugees and immigrants, said Tuesday night that Manuel-Andres had been released because the DHS didn't meet certain deadlines to file paperwork related to the appeal.
As a result, Fugees Family CEO Luma Mufleh said she was able to file the necessary paperwork for the bond covering the release of Manuel-Andres.
Mufleh said a friend of hers is with Manuel-Andres and will drive him back to Bowling Green Wednesday.
Attorneys for Manuel-Andres say he entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor and is allowed to be in the country because he was granted a legal classification called Special Immigrant Juvenile, something afforded to young people who enter the country after suffering abuse, neglect, or abandonment.
Manuel-Andres and his father were arrested by ICE agents in Bowling Green on June 4. Since then, about 200 people attended a rally in Bowling Green demanding his release, and about 100 rally attendees showed up to protest at the Bowling Green office of U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie.
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The Department of Homeland Security is appealing a decision that would grant bond to Ernesto Manuel Andres, an 18-year-old living in Bowling Green who was arrested by ICE agents earlier this month.
During a virtual hearing on Monday, an immigration judge set a $1,500 bond for the potential release of Manuel Andres, according to Luma Mufleh, the founder of Fugees Family, a nonprofit offering legal representation to Ernesto. However, attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security appealed the decision. The appeal will likely keep Ernesto in federal custody for an additional 30 days.
Mufleh said Manuel Andres and his legal team were distraught after learning he would not be released.
"We went from being very excited when we heard that he got $1,500 to just being in shock and not understanding what it meant when the DHS attorney said, 'No, we're going to reserve our right to appeal it,'" Mufleh said. "And then the Judge just apologized to Ernesto saying he will not be released today."
According to Mufleh, the legal team is planning to attempt to pressure the Department of Homeland Security to stop blocking his release on bond and pointed to the relatively small size of the bond the judge handed down as an indication that Manuel Andres doesn't pose a flight risk.
The appeal follows the shuffling of Manuel Andres to three different detention centers in five days following his arrest in Bowling Green on June 4. He's currently being held at a federal detention center in Louisiana.
Soon after being placed at the Louisiana detention center, the Department of Homeland Security filed a Motion to Change Venue, which moved Manuel Andres' case from Indianapolis, hundred of miles away, to Monroe, Louisiana. According to Mufleh, those tactics along with the DHS's decision to appeal his bond is meant to wear down individuals so they are more likely to self-deport.
"The DHS didn't produce any new evidence in the hearing," Mufleh said. "It's designed to break him, and break us. He doesn't want to spend 30 more days in detention, nobody does."
Immigration lawyers who represent Manuel Andres say he has legal status in the U.S. after receiving a special federal designation that protects him from deportation. Lawyers with DHS have said he entered the country unlawfully and doesn't qualify for protection.
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