A federal judge on Monday ordered the release of Bronx student Joel Camas, who despite having a special class of legal status was detained last month by federal immigration authorities.
Southern District of New York Judge Cathy Seibel made the ruling from the bench in White Plains nearly a month after Joel, a 16-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant, was taken into custody on Oct. 23 at his routine immigration check-in, according to his lawyers.
“While it’s a huge relief that Joel can finally go home, ICE should have never detained him in the first place,” said Elizabeth Gyori, senior staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“By arresting a child with legal status at a routine check-in, ICE acted with brazen cruelty, broke U.S. law, and violated the Constitution,” Gyori added. “The Trump administration should expect to keep seeing us in court if they continue to punish people for following the rules.”
Spokespeople for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Joel, a junior at Gotham Collaborative High School, was granted “Special Immigrant Juvenile” status in April, which provides a path to permanent residency for minors abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent. Joel’s mother previously said she self-deported to give her son a better chance at remaining in the United States, while he stayed with extended family.
He was accompanied to his check-in by the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, but still arrested and taken into custody. His lawyers at NYCLU and The Door, a youth social services organization, promptly filed a petition for Joel’s release in federal court.
As a result of the judge’s order, Joel can fight his separate but parallel deportation proceedings in immigration court, without having to remain in detention.
In addition to the comptroller, Joel’s case had garnered the support of Mayor Adams, who previously said the public school student had “followed the proper immigration process,” and his administration filed a brief in support of his release. Five child advocacy groups also submitted filings that argued his detention threatened to harm his education and cause long-term trauma.
