A Cleveland immigration judge has granted release on bond to the owner of the Miguel’s Tacos food truck business in Yellow Springs.
Miguel Espinosa has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Butler County since late August.
Dayton immigration attorney Karen Bradley represents the Mexican-born Espinosa, whose wife and three children are United States citizens, and says Judge David Whipple was moved by the outpouring of letters from Yellow Springs in support of Espinosa.
“And when I tell you the letters were coming in back to back, it was like, oh my goodness. But we put it all in there and I think the judge saw that. And he'd never seen anything like that." she says. "For me, you want to do everything to you know have the scales move in your favor and that was one of the things, for sure.”
More than 121 letters were submitted to the court before the Cleveland bond hearing. Friends of Espinosa also launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist the family during his detention. The campaign has raised more than $11,880.
Whipple’s ruling determined Espinosa is not a flight risk or danger to the community. ICE has the right to appeal the decision to grant Espinosa bond.
Barring last-minute actions, Bradley says Espinosa can now seek the opportunity to apply for a green card, allowing him to become a permanent U.S. resident.
If a judge decides Espinosa qualifies for what's known as cancellation of removal for non-permanent residents and is eligible to move forward in the green-card process, he'd have a court hearing, which would be closed to the public.
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