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WATCH: Mom released from ICE custody during live broadcast
A young mother, who has been detained in ICE custody for nearly a month despite having no criminal record, was released from custody. FOX 9's Paul Blume was there the moment she was freed.
LAKE ELMO, Minn. (FOX 9) - A young mother, who has been detained for nearly one month, was released from ICE custody on Wednesday.
Aguilar Maldonado is from El Salvador and does not have a criminal record. She has two small children, the youngest of whom she is currently nursing.
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Judge orders mother in ICE custody released
A federal judge has ordered the release of a mother of two small children who has been jailed in ICE custody for several weeks after she was arrested by immigration enforcement officers on her way to work last month. FOX 9's Paul Blume is following the story.
Reunited with her children
What happened:
Aguilar Maldonado was detained at the Kandiyohi County jail following her arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on July 17.
A senior U.S. District Court Judge ordered the release of Antonia Aguilar Maldonado on bond as her immigration case plays out.
Aguilar Maldonado arrived in the United States from El Salvador as an unaccompanied minor in 2016. She does not have a criminal record and was raising two small children in Lake Elmo while nursing the youngest child.
Her attorneys argued for her release, so she could be reunited with her kids while her case proceeds in Immigration court.
"She wants to be reunited with her children immediately," said attorney Gloria Contreras Edin. "The breast milk that she's feeding her toddler is the only thing that her toddler can take. 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."
Timeline:
Aguilar Maldonado arrived in the United States from El Salvador as an unaccompanied minor in 2016.
She was arrested by ICE on July 17, 2025, as the Department of Homeland Security moved to deport her. She does not have a criminal record.
An Immigration judge previously ruled she was neither a public safety threat nor a flight risk and ordered her released from ICE custody on a $10,000 bond.
But DHS appealed the ruling, keeping Aguilar Maldonado locked up during the proceedings.
Aguilar Maldonado’s legal team took their fight to U.S. District Court, asking a federal judge to step in and order her release through a Habeas Corpus petition.
After listening to oral arguments on Tuesday, senior U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered that Aguilar Maldonado be released from ICE custody on the $10,000 bond as her immigration case proceeds.
Her attorneys tell FOX 9 they expect her to be released sometime Wednesday.
Church raises bond money
What they're saying:
"We are feeling very relieved that the judge made the right decision in this case," said Hannah Brown, one of two attorneys representing Aguilar Maldonado.
"It is just amazing what God can do to get her out where it was not a possibility," explained Telma Vides, a close friend of Aguilar Maldonado’s, who was emotional following the ruling.
Vides is a member of Aguilar Maldonado’s St. Paul church that helped raise her $10,000 bond. Many church members packed into the federal courtroom on Tuesday to listen to the arguments, exploding into a standing ovation after the judge ordered her release.
"These three weeks has been a roller coaster," said Vides. "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?’"
Immigration case continues
What's next:
It is expected that Aguilar Maldonado will post her $10,000 bond during court business hours on Wednesday, prompting her release. She will then be reunited with her children.
Her immigration case continues as the government attempts to deport her as an alien in the United States illegally. She is due back in Immigration court on Thursday for those proceedings.