Judge orders release of farmworker detained by ICE

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(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect) – A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Dolores Bustamante Romero, a Wayne County farmworker detained by ICE last month.

U.S. District Judge Meredith Vacca granted a habeas corpus petition that argued Bustamante was unlawfully detained when she appeared in Buffalo for a scheduled immigration appointment April 22. Bustamante’s attorneys argued federal officials flouted regulations that required them to provide the woman with notice and a hearing around the details of her rearrest.

Bustamante, an apple farm worker and prominent labor rights advocate, has lived in the United States since 2003. She fled Mexico that year to escape an abusive husband. After an unsuccessful asylum claim and several appeals, a federal judge issued a final deportation order for Bustamante in 2023. She had been allowed, however, to live and work under supervised release in the years since.

During an evidentiary hearing May 26, federal officials could not say who revoked Bustamante’s release or why ― but said they planned to deport the woman to Mexico within days of her arrest. Bustamante’s attorneys called her detention hurried and haphazard.

Vacca’s order does not block the possibility of deporting Bustamante at a later date. Under the order, she must immediately be placed back on supervised release.

If ICE moves to detain her again, however, the agency must first provide Bustamante with a written notice that includes “a determination to revoke her release for an enumerated reason and by an individual with the proper authority,” the judge wrote. In that case, Bustamante would also have the right to an informal interview to contest the reasons for the arrest.

Vacca ordered federal authorities to file a status report with the court by 4:30 p.m. May 28 confirming Bustamante has been released.