In brief
Ruben Torres Maldonado, a Chicago man detained by immigration authorities while his 16-year-old daughter undergoes cancer treatment, has been ordered a bond hearing by a federal judge. The judge affirmed that Torres's detention breached his due process rights, while his attorney lauds the ruling as an initial victory in the fight for his release. Torres entered the U.S. in 2003, and his children are U.S. citizens. His family's story highlights the ongoing immigration crackdown affecting many families.
CHICAGO (AP) — The detention by immigration authorities of a Chicago man whose 16-year-old daughter is undergoing treatment for advanced cancer is illegal, and he must be given a bond hearing by Oct. 31, a federal judge has ruled.
Attorneys for Ruben Torres Maldonado, 40, who was detained Oct. 18, have petitioned for his release as his deportation case goes through the system. While U.S. District Judge Jeremy Daniel said in an order Friday that Torres’ detention is illegal and violates his due process rights, he also said he could not order his immediate release.
While sympathetic to the plight the petitioner’s daughter faces due to her health concerns, the court must act within the constraints of the relevant statutes, rules, and precedents, the judge wrote Friday.
Torres’ attorney took the ruling as a win — for now.
“We’re pleased that the judge ruled in our favor in determining that ICE is illegally detaining Ruben. We will now turn the fight to immigration court so we can secure Ruben’s release on bond while he applies for permanent residence status,” his attorney, Kalman Resnick, said in a statement Friday night.
Torres, a painter and home renovator, was detained at a suburban Home Depot store. His daughter, Ofelia Torres, was diagnosed in December with a rare and aggressive form of soft-tissue cancer called metastatic alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma and has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Torres entered the U.S. in 2003, according to his lawyers. He and his partner, Sandibell Hidalgo, have a 4-year-old son. The children are both U.S. citizens, according to court records.
“My dad, like many other fathers, is a hard-working person who wakes up early in the morning and goes to work without complaining, thinking about his family,” Ofelia said in a video posted on a GoFundMe page set up for her family. “I find it so unfair that hardworking immigrant families are being targeted just because they were not born here.”
The Department of Homeland Security alleges that Torres has been living illegally in the U.S. for years and has a history of driving offenses, including driving without a valid license and insurance.
At a hearing Thursday, which Ofelia attended in a wheelchair, the family’s attorneys told the judge that she had been released from the hospital just a day before her father’s arrest so that she could see family and friends. However, since his arrest, she has been unable to continue treatment due to stress and disruption.
Federal prosecutor Craig Oswald stated that the government did not want to release Torres because he didn’t cooperate during his arrest.
Several elected officials held a news conference Wednesday to protest Torres’ arrest. The Chicago area has been at the center of a major immigration crackdown dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which began in early September.
