DETROIT – After months of uncertainty, separation, and fear, Michigan father, Jose Contreras Cervantes, who is battling a rare form of Leukemia, is finally home with his wife and children. Mr. Contreras Cervantes is one of more than a dozen people who have been freed this week after a federal court found that they were being unlawfully detained in immigration custody. Mr. Contreras Cervantes’ case, filed by the ACLU of Michigan, challenged a Trump administration directive that eliminated bond hearings for long-term U.S. residents detained by immigration authorities, and resulted in the release of eight people. At least six others represented by private counsel were also released this week after rulings in similar cases.
Mr. Contreras Cervantes has lived in Michigan for almost two decades. He is married to a U.S. citizen, has three U.S. citizen children, and has deep ties to his church and community. He was arrested after a routine traffic stop in Macomb County on August 5th and taken into immigration custody. During his detention, his access to life-saving cancer medication was dangerously disrupted.
In its filing with the court, the ACLU asserted that Mr. Contreras Cervantes and the ACLU’s other clients were unlawfully being denied their right to a bond hearing because of a new directive issued by the Trump administration in July. Despite a law providing for immigration court bond hearings, the directive attempts to reverse decades of government policy and practice. Left unchallenged, implementation of that directive threatens to put potentially millions of noncitizens across the country in mandatory immigration detention with no access to judicial review.
In her rulings, U.S. District Judge Brandy R. McMillion agreed with the ACLU’s position that people like Mr. Contreras Cervantes, who have long lived in the U.S. are eligible for release from immigration detention while they pursue their immigration cases and that the government’s new directive not only violates immigration law, but is unconstitutional.
In August, Judge McMillion issued a similar order in another ACLU case involving a longtime Detroit resident and father of five U.S. citizen children. She ordered that he be immediately released or provided a bond hearing. The government responded by releasing that individual shortly afterward.
There are at least ten federal court decisions in Michigan alone finding that the new Administration directive is illegal, and ordering that non-citizens illegally detained by ICE be released or given a bond hearing. There are now about a hundred federal court decisions around the country holding that noncitizens who have been living in the U.S. have the right to appear at a bond hearing before an immigration court judge and seek release. While these victories bring long-awaited relief to families like the Contreras Cervantes’s, hundreds or even thousands more in Michigan remain in custody under similar circumstances.
Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said this about the release of our clients and others detained:
“We are beyond thrilled that all our clients have been released and are home with their families where they belong. Seeing Jose reunited with his wife and children after being needlessly separated for more than two months is both joyous and gut wrenching. While the Contreras Cervantes family is finally together again, they should never have had to endure this separation in the first place. And even though court after court has said this new ICE directive is illegal, we know that ICE is still illegally holding countless other dads and moms behind bars without any due process. Their kids love and need them, just as much as Jose’s kids love and need him. The administration’s goal is to break people’s spirits by locking them up, throwing away the key, and making them so desperate that they agree to leave their loved ones behind and self deport. This policy is family separation with a different name. We will continue to fight back every day with all that we have to reunite these families. We will not stop until justice prevails for all people.”
Jose Contreras Cervantes, detained dad with Leukemia, said this about his release:
“I don’t know how much time God will give me with my family, but to be robbed of two and half months of precious time together was really hard. I missed so many of my baby’s first moments, my son’s birthday, my wife’s birthday, and just the simple joy of sitting around the dinner table together. I also constantly worried about my son, who has brain tumors, and making sure my family was safe and secure. I am so grateful to be back home, but no one should have to suffer what we have been through. Sadly, there are many, many more people who I met in detention who have been taken from their loved ones. That is why my wife and I have decided to speak up. We want to share our story to hopefully make a difference for others still locked away from their children, their spouses, their churches, and their communities. We are grateful to have the ACLU of Michigan fight for our freedom, but many others whose rights are being violated also need legal representation. I pray every day for all the other dads I met to be reunited with their families. They just want what we all want - to live safely and free to raise our children in peace.”
Read the judge’s opinion here.
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