Federal judge orders release of father detained by ICE on Baltimore school campus

A federal judge on Thursday ordered a man released from detention after finding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested him without probable cause on a Baltimore school’s campus.

U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin questioned why the agency failed to obtain a warrant and how it concluded Jesus Acevedo Sanchez was in the United States without legal immigration status.

Rubin described the federal government’s argument that it had proof that Acevedo Sanchez was in the country illegally because he did not show up in several of its databases as unpersuasive. She wouldn’t appear in them either, she noted.

The judge described ICE’s conduct as a “stomach churner” and ordered the government to release him from the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia by 11:59 p.m.

“The court reached the right result today. Any other result would have been rubber-stamping lawlessness,” said Rachel Girod, one of Acevedo Sanchez’s attorneys, outside the courtroom. “We’re very pleased that our client’s going home to his girls.”

ICE detained Acevedo Sanchez, 39, and his longtime partner, Adriana Gavilan Sanchez, 37, on June 11, as they went to drop off their children at Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School in East Baltimore.

Bystanders recorded video of the encounter, which marked the first reported time that ICE conducted an operation on Maryland public school grounds since President Donald Trump returned to office.

City and state leaders condemned the incident, and community members rallied in Patterson Park in a show of solidarity for the couple.

Acevedo Sanchez and Gavilan Sanchez are both from Mexico and do not have legal immigration status. The government is still seeking to deport them.

Their two daughters are U.S. citizens, the couple’s attorneys have said.

Girod and her co-counsel, Rachael Savage, argued that ICE conducted an invalid, warrantless arrest that violated their client’s constitutional rights. They requested his immediate release from detention.

Girod said Acevedo Sanchez believed he was fleeing an armed carjacker when he drove to the school seeking safety for his daughters.

“We have an unlawful arrest,” she said. “And therefore, his detention is unlawful.”

In an affidavit, Acevedo Sanchez said men who were not wearing ICE or police insignia pointed guns at his family and struck their SUV from behind with unmarked vehicles.

Gavilan Sanchez said in an affidavit that she felt terrified and experienced nightmares after her detention.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Beatrice Thomas contended that ICE had reason to believe that Acevedo Sanchez was in the United States without legal immigration status.

ICE is allowed to approach people, Thomas said. Acevedo Sanchez disobeyed a command and then fled from law enforcement, she said.

“They did have authority to arrest this person,” Thomas said.

Thomas said Acevedo Sanchez was entitled to a bond hearing but not to immediate release.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox ordered Gavilan Sanchez to be released from immigration detention. She was freed at about 10:30 p.m. on July 15 from the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia, according to court documents.

Now, her partner will be coming home.

Correction: Adriana Gavilan Sanchez’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.