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CHELMSFORD — A New Bedford mother of three was denied bond in immigration court Thursday — a decision likely related to a recent policy memo issued by ICE that disallows bonds for those who entered the U.S. illegally.
Yury Melissa Aguiriano-Romero, 35, an asylum applicant from Honduras, was denied bond by Immigration Judge Natalie Smith during a hearing at Chelmsford Immigration Court regarding a reopened asylum claim.
“Based on the current law before this court,” Smith said at the hearing’s conclusion, “client remains ineligible for bond.”
A legal team led by immigration attorney Robin Nice filed the new asylum claim and motion to stay removal on Aguiriano-Romero’s behalf on June 25, more than three weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took her into custody during a check-in at an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program in Framingham. Her original asylum claim was rejected in February 2023.
“I think I was hopeful that it would be a different outcome,” Nice said. “But not shocking is how I can best describe it.”
The bond denial comes after Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, issued a policy memo on July 8 that states those who arrived in the U.S. illegally are no longer eligible for bond hearings and subject to indefinite detention for the duration of their removal proceedings, which could be months or years long.
That was, in essence, the brief argument an ICE official made during the 15-minute hearing.
“[She was] apprehended at the border and present without being admitted or paroled,” said Casey Christo, assistant chief counsel for ICE. He cited that as the chief reason for her ineligibility for bond.
The memo, in Nice’s estimation, reinforced a May 15 decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals, the nation’s highest immigration court. The decision in the Matter of Q. Li found that those who enter the country and are detained without a warrant are not eligible for bond.
“DHS is now filing these very boiler plate motions — it’s like a two-paragraph thing,” Nice said regarding today’s move. “There’s no specificity.”
“This certainly goes hand in hand [with the memo],” she said. “But I think the underlying thing was the Matter of Q. Li.”
Dana Lopez-Flores, a law student under Nice’s supervision, argued that Aguiriano-Romero had already been released on personal recognizance and with check-ins as a condition after her original detainment in 2021. She argued that Aguiriano-Romero is subject to a different section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act that allows those detained under warrant and whose deportation proceedings are pending to be released on bond.
Lopez-Flores said other courts appeared to agree with her argument.
“Several district court judges are finding individuals in similar circumstances are bond-eligible,” she told Smith.
Nice said they intend to continue to pursue Aguiriano-Romero’s release through a habeas corpus petition filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. They said they intend to file an update in that case by Thursday and reserved the right to appeal the decision in immigration court as well.
The hearing and decision came after a 3.5-hour delay when authorities at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, Vermont — where she has been held since June 16 — said they did not realize she was scheduled for a hearing that morning.
Aguiriano-Romero’s case
The mother of three, including one U.S. citizen born shortly after her arrival in the U.S. in 2021, Aguiriano-Romero has said she was a youth organizer for the Partido Nacional in her native Honduras when partisans of the opposing Partido Liberal began to harass her and her family. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, she was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions and her brother — another worker with Partido Nacional — was murdered.
In 2021, she and her husband, Victor Emilio Murillo-Avila, along with two children, came to the U.S. seeking asylum. Their original lawyer sought relief under the claim of Murillo-Avila. An immigration judge denied that claim in February 2023 due to insufficient evidence and ordered their removal.
Following the denial of their asylum claim, the couple was placed in ISAP, an ICE electronic surveillance program for immigrants awaiting court proceedings or deportation. They continue to insist that a return to Honduras would be unsafe for themselves and their children.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, ICE initially transported Aguiriano-Romero to the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office in Burlington, Massachusetts. In an affidavit filed as evidence, Aguiriano-Romero said she was given poor quality food, only mylar blankets with which to sleep on the floor, and had to share three sanitary napkins with 18 other women while menstruating — conditions U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy called abhorrent during a hearing on June 13.
Shortly after her detention, a family friend filed a habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court Massachusetts to ensure she was not moved without notification. Judge Murphy allowed ICE to move her to Vermont following the June 13 hearing.
Nice said the facility is an upgrade in conditions for Aguiriano-Romero, though it is relative.
“When she starts talking about her kids, she starts sobbing,” she said.
Murillo-Avila and the couple’s two older children have master hearings scheduled in the Boston Immigration Court in May 2026.
Email Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org
America has lost it heart.
Congratulations, MAGA. Law abiding mother of 3 held indefinitely (months or years, just like those undeveloped, 3rd-world countries we all knew growing up) in unsanitary, unsafe prisons miles and miles from her home and family, all justified by an arbitrary MAGA “policy” that violates all applicable Constitutional rights. Shame, shame on you.
Law abiding? Try crossing the border in any other country and see what happens. She broke the law Capeclay.
When and how will this horror stop? Only when 3.5% of our country’s population finally steps up and attends protest after protest after protest, until 47 and his administration fall down.
Donald Trump doesn’t know you exist Catherine. Spend time with your family instead of wasting your time protest after protest after protest…
What bullshit,they have no proven right to be here, And nobody can give me one good reason why I have to pay for them. Deport
Deport deport, they have no valid excuse for being here, if she/they feel that they have been mis-treated, LEAVE NOW. Don’t let the door hit them in the ass
She broke the law. Bye Bye
Name one country that allows you to come in illegally and make tax payers foot the bill. Zero!! Wake up!!
Many countries support refugees, Bob White. Some offer housing assistance, education, job training, language classes, and some financial assistance. Importantly, many have a much faster processing time than we do for determining eligibility for asylum. Some even focus on economic immigration.
Bob White – Respect for the law is a good thing. You weren’t footing the bill before. You will be now. Many immigrants are paying into taxes and social security without getting benefits. This person is being held in a prison, possibly for years, until a hearing takes place. You are now paying for the prison guards, three meals a day and her sanitary supplies. An ankle bracelet would be a lot cheaper and she could be with her child. You might end up paying for childcare as well.
The price of food, whether it’s from a New Bedford fishouse or California farm, will be more expensive. Good news if you are a citizen who works there, but most don’t. Also if you need a new roof or have a relative in a nursing expect to pay more.
What we need is for both parties in Congress to update the immigration laws (use tech, path to citizenship, clarify amnesty, hearing Judges) rather than use the issue for fundraising.
Amen! Thank you for listing some of the ways we benefit from their work. And thank you for saying who really benefits from their internment: the for-profit prison complexes. This administration has to justify the millions being paid to the prison contractors, so it is rounding up people who are not criminals. (Much conflict of interest involved here.) This is not what many people thought they were voting for.
In addition to being used for fundraising, the issue is also being used to attack due process rights for all of us. If we weaken those rights for the undocumented, we weaken them for us and and our loved ones.