LINCOLN, Neb. — An Omaha mother is back home with her children after three months in the custody of immigration officials. Yurenia Genchi Palma is the latest American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska client to be released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. A federal judge ruled today that her ongoing detention was unlawful.
ICE agents detained Genchi Palma, who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, during the June Glenn Valley Foods worksite raid in Omaha. She is the mother of three children, all of whom are U.S. citizens, and her family’s primary caretaker and financial provider.
An Omaha immigration court judge granted her release on bond in mid-July, only for ICE to unilaterally block her freedom by filing an automatic stay on her release — a new practice that appears to be connected to ICE’s “interim guidance” that asserts nearly all detained immigrants in removal proceedings are ineligible for release on bond.
In August, the ACLU of Nebraska filed a federal lawsuit on Genchi Palma's behalf that argued ICE’s use of the automatic stay violated her right to due process and exceeded the agency’s authority.
Today, a federal judge ruled from the bench in Genchi Palma’s favor and granted her release on bond.
Mindy Rush Chipman, executive director at the ACLU of Nebraska, said:
“We are thrilled to see another family reunited. Our client and her children endured nearly two full months apart after she was granted release on bond. Nebraskans need to be aware of how ICE is violating people’s rights and keeping families apart. That will only increase under our governor’s plans to repurpose a state prison into an immigrant detention camp and have Nebraska State Patrol troopers and National Guard members supporting ICE. No matter what comes next, we will keep doing all we can to ensure due process for all.”
Genchi Palma is the fourth ACLU of Nebraska client to leave ICE custody in the last two months.
Last week, the Board of Immigration Appeals, an administrative body in the executive branch, affirmed ICE’s new no-bond practice. The practice is being challenged in a separate national class action lawsuit brought by the ACLU’s national office and other immigrants’ rights advocates. Litigation in that case remains underway.
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