03/03/2026
Martín graduated high school this summer—the first in his family. One month later, ICE locked him up for seven months.
Martín came to this country as an unaccompanied child seeking safety. He applied for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status—doing everything the government required of him to pursue lawful permanent status. In June, the government approved his application—finding Martín is entitled to apply for a green card as soon as a visa is available for SIJS.
Months earlier, an immigration judge in Boston had already terminated Martín's deportation proceedings. Martín no longer had a pending case in immigration court. He wasn't required to appear in court. He had no criminal history. There was no legal basis to arrest him.
Three weeks after his high school graduation—having just turned 18—while visiting family in another state, ICE arrested Martín anyway.
The arrest forced Martín back into deportation proceedings he'd already been released from. An immigration judge reviewed his case and ordered Martín released on bond, finding he posed no danger and was not a flight risk. When Martín's family arrived to pay the bond, they were told he wouldn’t be released. The government invoked an automatic stay—a post-9/11 provision created to detain suspected terrorists—to keep an 18-year-old high school graduate with no criminal history locked up indefinitely.
After his bond hearing, another immigration judge terminated Martín's deportation proceedings for the second time, determining there was no reason to keep his case in immigration court, since he could simply apply for his green card through USCIS once a visa became available. Still, ICE refused to release Martín.
The primary purpose of immigration detention is to ensure people appear for their court dates. Martín had no court dates. He had no pending case. Yet ICE continued to hold him at a facility notorious for overcrowding, abuse, and conditions advocates describe as punitive.
After months of work by Mabel Center alongside co-counsel from Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center and the National Immigration Project pursuing federal habeas relief, a federal judge ruled ICE must provide Martín a second bond hearing. Last Friday, an immigration judge once again granted Martín’s release on bond. With help from Casa del Trabajador, Martín's family paid it. Yesterday—Monday—Martín finally walked free. He's back with his family.
Martín's story exposes how this administration uses detention as punishment, not protection—even when their own judges, repeatedly, say there's no justification to hold someone.
