Two dozen individuals rallied outdoors the detention facility in Aurora to name for the discharge of Carla Medina, a Honduran mom of two who has been detained for greater than six months after delivering a DoorDash order to Buckley Area Drive Base. Though she received her asylum case Thursday, Medina stays in federal custody for now.
Nonetheless, she and her supporters thought-about the decide’s resolution to be a victory.
“I’m nonetheless in shock,” Medina stated to the gang over a video name from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. “I’m going to have the ability to reunite with my household very quickly.”
The information convention happened on the identical day as her asylum listening to in immigration courtroom. Medina’s lawyer, Andrew Younkins, stated she received her case, however the authorities reserved the correct to enchantment on a single problem: whether or not there have been extraordinary circumstances as to why Medina’s asylum software was not filed inside one 12 months of entry.
He stated the decide discovered that such circumstances had been current. However the transfer means Medina could also be held for no less than 30 extra days, if not longer, relying on whether or not the federal government information an enchantment.
The courtroom’s resolution had not been up to date on-line by the Government Workplace for Immigration Evaluation as of seven:30 p.m. Thursday, in response to public case data.
Medina advised JHB in an interview from the ICE facility final month that she left Honduras in 2023 out of worry of home violence and threats made by her ex-husband. Medina stated her household additionally sought to flee gang violence, and her husband, Pablo Acosta, 29, was escaping political persecution.
They entered the nation utilizing CBP One, a cellular app supplied by U.S. Customs and Border Safety, to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to hunt asylum.
As of Thursday night, Medina nonetheless sat within the ICE detention middle. She was first detained by federal immigration officers Oct. 23 whereas delivering a DoorDash order to Buckley, she stated. Based on Medina, she was within the asylum course of and had her work allow on the day she was picked up.
She stated that after she was stopped by safety officers on the gate, ICE officers arrived, and she or he was detained. She stated officers advised her that she had a deportation order, however Medina hasn’t seen it thus far.
ICE didn’t reply to inquiries by The Submit asking why Medina was detained.
The American Mates Service Committee and Aurora Unidos CSO — the social justice organizations behind the Thursday information convention — famous in a information launch that Medina labored as a nurse for 12 years in Honduras.
They referenced an earlier incident when Medina had been “wrongfully arrested” in Aurora on April 22, 2024, and the fees towards her had been dismissed on Oct. 31. AFSC’s program director, Jennifer Piper, declined to supply additional context across the prior arrest and dismissal.
Acosta and their two youngsters, Gimena and Mateo, are hoping for Medina’s launch — before later. They’ve their very own asylum hearings pending within the coming months.
“Simply how we received in the present day, many victories are but to come back,” Acosta stated in Spanish via a translator. “It’s not simply us preventing towards this.”
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