Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now

An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.

The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.

“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”

Neufville said the low bond is a sign that Hyattsville Immigration Judge Thanos Kanellakos doesn’t consider Mbock to be a danger to society or a flight risk.

The lawyer plans to pursue asylum for Mbock based on his sexual orientation. An openly gay man can’t safely return to Cameroon, he plans to argue, because the country punishes people in same-sex relationships.

About 20 of Mbock’s supporters, including his mother and sister, who was born in the U.S., attended the hearing, which was closed to the press. Mbock’s supporters and the gaming community have raised more than $100,000 for his legal defense.

“I am overjoyed but overwhelmed,” said Diane Sohna, Mbock’s sister. “I’m not going to be the happiest till I see him.”

ICE arrested Mbock, 38, on Feb. 17 after he traveled to Baltimore for what his family said was a routine check-in at the agency. But ICE sent him to a detention facility in Louisiana and then to one in Georgia, near the Florida border.

Immigrated legally

Mbock entered the U.S. on a green card in 2002, his lawyer said, and lost his legal status about three years later when his mother and then-stepfather, an American citizen, divorced.

In 2005, ICE ordered Mbock to leave the country, Neufville said, but he didn’t. Arrested in 2008, he spent about five months in detention before his release under a supervisory order that required him to surrender his passport and regularly check in with ICE.

Mbock avoided deportation because the government decided it could not send him to Cameroon, Neufville said, adding that he does not know why the government made that decision.

He said he also doesn’t know why ICE arrested Mbock last month.

The habeas petition requires the government to demonstrate that it has plans to deport Mbock — or release him.

An ICE order of supervision, like the one Mbock is under, is issued when someone who is facing a final deportation order is unable to be deported, said Cecilia T. Mateo, an immigration attorney who is not involved in Mbock’s case.

Reasons can include lack of a passport or other paperwork required to enter a country, she said, or a humanitarian concern about an immigrant’s safety in their native country.

An arrest or other legal troubles can trigger deportation under a supervisory order, she said.

Nikhil Delahaye, who attended his friend’s hearing Friday, praised the gaming community for standing behind Mbock.

“It’s been a long road to get here. I knew our cause was just,” he said. “I knew we would be able to bring my friend home.”