A federal judge has ordered the release of a man in the country without legal status who was detained in northwest Iowa.
Armando Garcia Picazo was sent to the Woodbury County jail in early August after ICE agents picked him up.
Guy Weinstein is his lawyer. He says Garcia Picazo was forced to stay behind bars, even though a judge set bond so he could try to legally remain in the U.S.
“But what the public doesn't realize is that there's a lot of individuals like Armando Garcia Picasso that have zero criminal history they've been here in the community for a number of years that this administration is trying to remove.”
Judge Leonard Strand says Garcia Picazo should be immediately released after posting $6,000 dollar bond.
Strand recently made a similar ruling in another case. He said Noel Lopez De La Cruz of Mt. Pleasant should have a bond hearing before an immigration judge.
Lopez De La Cruz, who is 24, lived most of his life in the United States. ICE took him into custody in August from the Muscatine County Jail, where he was being held on a charge ofmarijuana possession. The charges were dropped.
*As first reported by Iowa Public Radio