Federal judge orders release of Dominican woman detained illegally by ICE

 Inocencia Rodríguez was arrested on July 10 during an ICE operation involving multiple vehicles and at least eight agents at an access checkpoint in Guaynabo, according to the ACLU of Puerto Rico.

By THE STAR STAFF

A federal judge in San Juan has ordered the immediate release of Inocencia Rodríguez, a Dominican immigrant whom the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico says was unlawfully detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

According to ACLU legal director Fermín Arraiza Navas, U.S. District Judge María Antongiorgi Jordán issued the order on Friday and instructed federal authorities to hold a bond hearing on or before July 21.

Arraiza Navas said the ruling was a necessary intervention to safeguard Rodríguez’s due process rights after what he described as a discriminatory and unlawful enforcement policy. He added that the judge acted in response to “the refusal and bad faith” of an immigration judge and federal prosecutors who declined to acknowledge in court that Rodríguez should never have been detained.

The ACLU says Rodríguez has both an approved family petition (I‑130) and a provisional waiver (I‑601A), information that appears in her own federal immigration file. Despite this, immigration judge Elvin Talavera Peraza allegedly refused to allow the documents to be verified during a custody redetermination hearing held July 15.

“When the government illegally detains a person and ordinary mechanisms fail to protect their rights, federal courts have a duty to intervene,” said ACLU of Puerto Rico Executive Director Annette Martínez Orabona.

She emphasized that no one should remain in custody while the government refuses to confirm information already in its possession.

Rodríguez was arrested on July 10 during an ICE operation involving multiple vehicles and at least eight agents at an access checkpoint in Guaynabo, the organization said.

The ACLU maintains that her detention is illegal and has vowed to continue defending Rodríguez and other immigrants whose rights, it argues, are being violated in Puerto Rico.