Nursing mother reunited with children after ICE release
Mother reunited with her children after ICE detention in MN
Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, a 25-year-old mother, was released from ICE detention after a month. FOX 9's Paul Blume has the latest.
LAKE ELMO, Minn. (FOX 9) - A young mother, detained for nearly one month, was released from ICE custody on Wednesday. Her release came a day after a senior U.S. District Court Judge ordered Antonia Aguilar Maldonado to be freed on bond as her immigration case plays out. Aguilar Maldonado is from El Salvador and does not have a criminal record. She has two small sons and is currently nursing her youngest child.
Emotional release captured on live TV
What we know:
Aguilar Maldonado was released from ICE custody on Wednesday, just after 5 p.m. in a moment captured on live TV during a FOX 9 newscast. She had been detained in the Kandiyohi County jail in Willmar since her July 17 arrest. A senior U.S. District Court judge ordered her release on a $10,000 bond as her immigration case plays out.
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.
The Department of Homeland Security maintains the woman is in the United States illegally and is continuing removal proceedings against her.
"Very happy, I am so grateful," Aguilar Maldonado said through the Spanish translation of her attorney, soon after walking out of ICE custody. "I am grateful to God to be able to return to my babies."
Case drew increased attention
Timeline:
Aguilar Maldonado’s case drew increased attention in the days leading up to her release as her attorneys argued that DHS and ICE were violating a long-standing policy of separating a nursing mother from her child if she was not a public safety threat. An Immigration court judge previously found Aguilar Maldonado was not a safety risk and issued a $10,000 bond for her release.
But DHS appealed the Immigration Court ruling and triggered an automatic stay provision that kept Aguilar Maldonado behind bars until the district court judge stepped in this week.
"I am grateful simply because I think the judge made the right decision in this case," said Gloria Contreras Edin, one of two attorneys representing Aguilar Maldonado, soon after her client walked free. "I am grateful because I was starting to have doubt in our democracy. And sometimes I have doubts about whether there is a God. Today, seeing this, I am certain that there is a God."
St. Paul church steps up
Mother detained by ICE in MN released
Mother of two, Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, was released from ICE detention after a month.
Dig deeper:
Aguilar Maldonado’s Rios de Agua Viva church community in St. Paul helped raise the money to cover her $10,000 bond.
The church’s pastor tells FOX 9 that his Spanish-speaking congregation has about 1,000 active members from 17 different countries, many like Aguilar Maldonado come from El Salvador.
"It’s just amazing what God can do to get her out where it was not a possibility," said Telma Vides, a friend and fellow church member who helped support Aguilar Maldonado and her family during her incarceration. "It just kept going up and down and up and down. It's been a roller coaster all this. These three weeks have been a roll coaster."
The church is planning a special service to celebrate Aguilar Maldonado’s release on Friday night.
"I am really grateful for my family and for my church family and for the church," said Aguilar Maldonado.
Asylum claim could take years
What's next:
Aguilar Maldonado told FOX 9 she is ready to fight her immigration case "for the moment."
She has an open asylum claim to remain in the United States after arriving at the border as an unaccompanied minor without legal paperwork in 2016.
But that process could take years to resolve in Immigration court.
Her friends have said her husband was deported while she was locked up. He was arrested by immigration enforcement authorities at the same time as the couple was stopped on their way to work last month.