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CHELMSFORD — A New Bedford man whose April detention during an immigration raid made international headlines, with video of federal agents smashing in his car window, is set to be released after an immigration judge found the Department of Homeland Security did not file charges in the case.
Judge Donald Ostrom declared a failure to prosecute Juan Francisco Méndez Thursday morning after a motion by Ondine Gálvez Sniffin, Méndez’s attorney. Sniffin had cited the lack of a Notice to Appear since Méndez’s dramatic arrest by agents on April 14 — an incident first reported by The Light. The government notice, also called an I-862 form, essentially serves as a formal charging document in immigration cases.
DHS Attorney Matthew Burns remained quiet as Judge Ostrom announced his ruling.
“The case is closed,” said Sniffin during a Spanish-language press conference after the ruling. “Their silence is a recognition of the fact that they violated my client’s rights.”
She said Méndez should be transported from Strafford County Corrections in Dover, New Hampshire, where he is currently being held, to Burlington, Massachusetts, for release later in the day. She added that the ruling should have no effect on his asylum case, which he is filing through his wife, Marilú Domingo Ortiz.
Sniffin, a practicing immigration attorney for 27 years, said she has never seen a judge declare a failure to prosecute at any other point in her career.
“This is a first for me,” she said. “And I think they are going to have to keep doing this because they keep making mistakes.”
Sniffin sought Méndez’s release Thursday, but encountered a delay. She said that when she contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Burlington office, it had him listed under a different alien registration number than the one she and the Executive Office for Immigration Review had for him.
She also said ICE refused to recognize her as Méndez’s attorney because she had not digitally uploaded a G-28 form saying so, though she said Méndez has such a form on his person.
“That was all we needed before,” she said. “Now I need to go into this system, create a profile, and wait a day to get it approved. It’s ridiculous.”
She added she thought Méndez and his family would be within their rights to sue the federal government for violating Méndez’s constitutional rights.
Ortiz declined to comment. Representatives for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An arrest that shocked the nation
Agents first detained Méndez on April 14, after a half-hour standoff when he and Ortiz refused to open their car doors or speak with them without an attorney present. Ortiz said she and Méndez flashed red “Know your rights” cards obtained through the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores through their windows to the agents.
Ortiz said the agents were initially looking for a man named Antonio, who used to live at their North End address, but took in Méndez after the couple left their home that morning. The standoff came to an end in a dramatic fashion, in a scene Ortiz caught on video: one agent used an axe to smash the car window and seize Méndez.
“They pulled us out violently,” Ortiz told The Light shortly after the incident took place. “They treated us very harshly.”
The ruling in Méndez’s case came two days after another arrest in New Bedford. Federal agents detained Juan Ramón Alegría Rodas outside his wife’s North End home Monday in what his wife said was a case of mistaken identity. She said Rodas told her in a phone call from detention at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility that agents planned to charge him with illegal re-entry, despite his not having left the U.S. since the 1990s. She said the agents thought Rodas was José Chaclan Cienfuentes, an old friend of his with whom he lived years ago in Framingham. Cienfuentes was deported in 2009.
The Méndez decision also came one day after Adrian Ventura, director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, said ICE detained four more men in an operation throughout New Bedford, bringing the total number of New Bedford residents in ICE detention to 22.
Sniffin said she has already filed a habeas petition for one of the four men detained Wednesday in an effort to make sure ICE does not move him without notifying the courts or herself.
Sniffin said Méndez’s experience is a sign of a troubling trend of eroding civil rights under the Trump administration, for immigrants regardless of status.
“Look at that man they sent to El Salvador,” she said, referring to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has garnered international attention after he was deported to the CECOT super prison in El Salvador due to an administrative error in April. The Trump administration has yet to make efforts to return him to the U.S. despite a U.S. Supreme Court order. “At least for Juan, it was only a month in detention but without charges.”
“This has been a month of injustice,” she concluded.
Gerardo Beltrán Salinas and Eleonora Bianchi contributed to this report.
Kevin G. Andrade can be reached at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, 2025, to update Méndez’s possible release date and other new details.
Continue to document these injustices as they happen, continue to speak about them, the shocking and the mundane, and don’t let up even when the victims are freed.
Don’t let the perpetrators hide their faces or claim they were “just following orders” after the fact. Don’t let the people who cheered or stayed silent while their neighbors were violently dehumanized think they can move on as if nothing happened.
Remember moments like these, and if the worst happens let it remind you not to go quietly.
Yes, and those directing these violations of our civil liberties must be held to account. The immunity granted by the Supreme Court to a sitting US President does NOT extend to those in the administration who carry out his orders. They are in contempt of court orders to return people who have been wrongly and unlawfully detained. Judges should be holding these people in contempt. This could mean fines and/or jail time. Judges have been giving them ample time to return Mr. Garcia and the Venezuelans who were flown to El Salvador in violation of judicial orders, but administration officials continue to ignore these court orders.
The New Bedford Light is a heartening answer to the decimation of American journalism. Without your dedication, the world would not have known about this travesty and the thuggish behavior of people who claim to be representatives of the federal government. (Many people do not believe they actually are.) Here on Cape Cod, where the Cape Cod Times has been decimated just as the New Bedford Standard Times has been destroyed, we are envious of what your publication has achieved. THANK YOU for carrying the torch for journalists worldwide.
This is why we have to keep fighting these outragious and unconstitional I CE arrests. The more we put a human face on them and people hear about what is taking place in communities across the country, the more folks are speaking out.
Even at the Republican town hall meetings the anger is palpable.
Americans recognize Fascist tactics and will not tolerate them.
I am relieved to see the judge in this case upholding the Constitution, but there are still too many other cases that must be challenged in court.
Let’s all keep applying pressure by speaking out.
Since Congress refuses to stand up against the injustices of this administration, we THE PEOPLE have to!
Just one of millions who violated US immigration laws and came across our border illegally, and now, two years later he’s requesting asylum after his girlfriend/wife was granted asylum.
Just one more liberal judge who rules based on personal views instead of ruling based on the law they swore an oath to do.
The Justice system in America has become a joke, thanks to Joe Biden, Maura Healy, Elizabeth Warren, John Marley, and the Democrat fools who elect them, it truly is disgusting, and an embarrassment to America, and the generations of military personnel, and law enforcement who gave their lives fighting for the freedom, and rights that illegal aliens, and Democrats who disrespect them all.
Im really glad you ( anonymously ) post here so we can see how wildly fantastical your thinking is, how inverted your understanding of the constitutional protection against government overreach is, how you offer nothing to maintain or advance our nation, just surrender to ideas and talking points that have been packaged up for you. That which doesnt affect you is, to you, a mental opression, that which tangibly opresses others is only a concern to you when resisted. You are a marvel.
Mr. Tax Payer….Who doesn’t pay taxes? The rule of law is that the courts follow the constitution and the laws of our country. Ice are not allowed attack people without identifying themselves or to deport anyone without due process. Randomly grabbing people off of the street and deporting them to a death camp in El Salvador is not what America does. Also- if deporting immigrants are the most important thing to you, here are some facts: During his first term, Trump promised mass deportations. He deported 1.5 million people. But that’s about half the 2.9 million deportations undertaken during Barack Obama’s first term and fewer than the 1.9 million deportations during Obama’s second term. It’s on par with Biden’s 1.49 million deportations.
The big difference is our current president thinks he can break the laws and doesn’t have to follow the constitution. This undermines our whole system and promotes vigilantes. They think that they don’t have to follow the laws either, since our president breaks the law constantly.
When you enter the country illegally, it’s a felony! How dare federal agents arrest illegals. You think it’s ok to arrest an American for felonies and traffic ticket. You know when you get pulled over and have a warrant for a traffic ticket, you go to jail and your kids go to cps. You liberals care more about illegals than Americans. Why don’t you take in some, since you care so much. Trump is doing what he said he would, and that’s what the majority wanted ! Liberals still want open borders !
Actually Eddie, if every country opened their borders, none of these countries would be trying to keep people out, they would be trying to improve America to attract citizens of other countries. If formally educated, even better. Bigger tax base for the US, job creation, innovation, the list goes on. Every country would be scrambling to improve, countries would be forced to improve, even the third world countries that “don’t have money”, just corrupt governments that steal the money. They would see there would be more of a benefit to open borders. Prove who you are on entry and sign a waiver that says you cannot get public assistance. Easy, not complicated. Life isn’t hard, people make it hard.
How did Obama deported over 3 million illegals? He did not have Due Process for most of these illegals. Why should these remain here, when there are many that have applied legally and are waiting on their countries.
Dear Taxpayer,
When an issue such as this happens, I find it helpful to imagine myself in that situation and how I might feel and react to it. Let’s look at this example:
Situation One: I am in country #1 and am being arrested for doing something I did not do. The arresting officer gives me a warrant signed by a judge, tells me why I am being arrested, and reads me my Miranda Rights (Right to remain silent, Right to an attorney, Right to defend your self before a judge and jury of your peers) I will be granted one call to my loved ones or a lawyer and will generally have the opportunity to post bail and remain out of jail until my trial date) In this situation, I often will have access to a translator if I don’t speak English well. In country #1, I am considered innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof of guilt is on the government
Situation Two: I am in country #2 and am being arrested for doing something I did not do. The arresting officer does not show a judicial warrant, often takes my phone, preventing me from calling loved ones, and removes me out of my community into another state or country. I am not told about any rights I might have or even given the opportunity of telling my loved one where I am. I am disappeared. To complicate matters, I do not speak English well, and do not understand what is happening. I am considered guilty until proven innocent. The burden of proof of my innocence is on me.
I would definitely want myself or my loved ones to be in. country #1. We are actually living in country #1, but this administration is treating people as though they were living in country #2.
They are violating their oath of office to uphold the US Constitution which guarantees in country #1 that we are innocent until proven guilty. Think about this. I believe that you will agree that living in country #1 is so much better than the alternative being forced on us, and that you will want to fight to keep our freedoms. After due process has been granted, guilty parties can then be dealt with. Too many innocent people are being swept up in this mass deportation policy, and that is not right.
Thank you for your continued excellent overage.
Thank you for your excellent reporting and following of this story. You truly are shining lights on some of the terrible doings of this administration!
This is disturbing and terrifying. The government is completely out of control. And yet, Acushnet—one of Trump’s strongest (if not strongest) bases in the state—stands behind it. Just imagine all the injustices that went unnoticed before cameras, when it was just the word of detainees against the police. I hope he sues for everything he can.
C, THIS exactly…I can hardly drive through the beacolic Acushnet countryside without my experience being marred by all the trump signage. I can hardly believe it…the French immigrants who populated Acushnet in years past would be so disgusted. They were VERY hardworking immigrants and came here for a betterment of their lives. The original Yankees who did would also shake their heads in dismay. They ALSO were hardworking immigrants who came here to better themselves. This so-called government IS completely out of control. The abuse directed toward this day and age’s hardworking immigrants is both sickening and immoral.
People are sick of having millions of illegals in the country who refuse to leave. I don’t think those on the other side realize this is us being nice. They don’t want to see what happens people get tired of the constant roadblocks being put in their way, and stop being nice.
Why? There is nothing that an immigrant does that is denying you of anything. If they work( most do) they pay taxes. They can’t file or get a refund if they didn’t make a lot….but they paid into a system that they can’t benefit from. They can’t file for Workman’s Comp. Unemployment Benefits, Social Security, etc. Explain again where they are harmful? And don’t give me the taking away jobs spiel, because I know you aren’t going to pick grapes or wash dishes.