‘I've missed her so much': Alpharetta woman detained by ICE for weeks released on bond
A judge in El Paso, Texas, granted Daniela Joly Landin a $10,000 bond Wednesday, allowing her to return with her husband to Georgia.
'It was a very special and emotional moment,' her husband, Richard Landin, said, speaking with Channel 2's Bryan Mims from a hotel room in El Paso.
His mother recorded video of the two walking out of the facility. Smiling and teary-eyed, they embraced one another.
Daniela and Richard met online and were married on Feb. 8 in Alpharetta.
Daniela is 24 years old and from Colombia. She entered the United States in May 2024, presented herself to the U.S. Border Patrol, and applied for asylum. Her husband said violent paramilitary groups in Colombia put her life in danger.
'They kill people for really just about any justification they can come up with,' Richard said.
But a judge denied her asylum application, so she appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which has not yet heard her case.
Her husband said on May 12, three Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents knocked on their apartment door, saying Daniela had an order for deportation because her asylum was denied.
She spent about two weeks at the Stewart Detention Center in Columbus but was transferred to the El Paso Service Processing Center in Texas.
TRENDING STORIES:
Man tries to carjack 2 victims, police say. Then a good Samaritan jumped in to help
GA ringleader of fraud scheme sentenced for creating fake recruiting websites to steal identities
Police investigate double shooting that left men injured in Greenbrian Mall parking lot
Her immigration attorney, Jameel Manji, of Decatur, told Mims last week that immigrants with pending appeals have typically not been detained. But he said under the Trump administration, ICE agents have been more aggressive, pursuing undocumented immigrants who have been in the country less than two years, whether they've broken any laws or not.
'Two years is kind of an arbitrary marker that this administration is using, but basically when someone's been here less than two years, they consider them prime candidates for expedited removals,' Manji said.
Richard, who talked with Daniela on the phone daily, said the El Paso facility was overcrowded, making living conditions difficult.
'It was so packed that there weren't any beds left for new arrivals,' he said. 'So, there was a fair amount of them sleeping on the floor.'
Dustin Baxter, the attorney who worked to provide Daniela a bond hearing, said the judge granted bond because, 'she's always complied with everything immigration has asked her to do.'
She has attended all of her court appearances and filed all paperwork on time, he said.
In immigration court, defendants have to pay bonds in full and in cash.
Richard said he used his savings, donations from family, and a GoFundMe campaign to raise money.
Speaking in Spanish, Daniela said she's grateful for everyone who helped in her case, calling this an answered prayer.
Mims sent emails to the Department of Homeland Security seeking a statement about this case, but has not yet received a response.
As for Daniela's appeal of her asylum denial, her attorneys said that it could take months, or even years, depending on the backlog of cases facing the Board of Immigration Appeals.
'Asylum is very difficult to obtain,' he said. 'The bar is extremely high, barring that she was specifically targeted for persecution.'
Her husband is also petitioning for Daniela to gain permanent legal residency because she's married to a U.S. citizen.
For now, he's overjoyed to have her in his arms again.
'Honestly, it's a blessing,' he said. 'It's like an absolute miracle to have her back because I've missed her so much these three weeks. I feel like I'm whole again when I'm with her.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
35 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Boston students discuss Massachusetts bill that would ban cellphones in school
Currently, Boston Public Schools' policy allows students to bring their cellphones to school as long as they are not visible during class time. Students are only allowed to use phones before or after school hours. Some schools in the district, such as Irving Middle School in Roslindale, Advertisement A Yondr pouch is a small bag that can only be unlocked using a special magnet that would be controlled by a school official. At least four BPS high schools, including English High School, started using Yondr pouches to restrict phone usage last year. Advertisement Ladan Mohamed, 15, a rising sophomore at Boston Latin School and a member of the Boston Student Advisory Council, opposes BPS spending money on Yondr pouches. Boston Latin School hasn't implemented them yet and has an honor system where students are not required to turn in their phones, but many classrooms have organizers where students can store their phones, so they don't get distracted during class. Mohamed also said the district needs to get better at contacting parents during emergencies, before enacting a cellphone ban. 'Let's say somebody ... breaks into the building, students and parents don't find out until after the fact,' Mohamed said, 'If students don't have their phones, the city and BPS need an emergency contact system. Right now, students are using social media as a positive tool.' Caitlin Murphy, head of school for The English High School, said that using Yondr pouches has been successful in encouraging healthy social interaction during lunch and made it easier for administrators to provide students with mental health support, since they aren't worried about student interactions on social media during the school day. 'The support team was constantly running to put out fires that were being started by social media that were causing incidents during the school day instead of actually doing responsive work. We're able to sort of proactively plan stress and anxiety groups,' Murphy said. Advertisement Murphy also said that The English High School was focused on helping students reach out to their parents if needed. 'I've been very clear with our main office staff and with anyone who ... has a phone in their office, that if a caregiver calls, then we drop what we're doing and we're getting to that student,' Murphy said. Laura Lara Santos, 16, a student at Fenway High School, where Yondr pouches have been implemented, is supportive of a 'bell-to-bell' policy where cellphones are banned throughout the school day, based on her own positive experiences in a phone-free school. 'It was reflected in my grades. The teachers actually told me that they saw a big change,' Lara Santos said in Spanish through an interpreter, 'and it helped during lunchtime too because we had real connections. We were not just talking about what had happened on TikTok.' Lara Santos is a member of Sociedad Latina, a Roxbury nonprofit that supports Latino youth with education, workforce development and other after-school programming. Alexandra Oliver-Dávila, executive director of the nonprofit, who spoke with her at the hearing, advocated for implementing a uniform bell-to-bell cellphone restriction policy across BPS at the hearing, to make education equitable for all students, irrespective of zip code. 'What I could foresee happening is there's going to be certain schools that are thought of as needing discipline that need to use the Yondr pouch,' Oliver-Dávila said, 'And we're going to come back down to the divide of the exam schools versus open enrollment schools.' Most of the students at the hearing testified against cellphone restrictions, saying that a ban would not help teenagers develop self-control when it comes to technology. Munira Saeed, 15, a student at the Boston Latin Academy, said that a cellphone ban would merely delay the challenge of teenagers learning how to use cellphones in a healthy manner, rather than solving the issue. Advertisement 'Trust and responsibility goes both ways. Give us the structure, the support and the chance to show that we can use our tools responsibly,' Saeed said. David Bickham, research director at the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, said that based on a 'If the school clearly communicates the goals of the policy to the students, it doesn't matter how strict it is, the kids [in the survey] said that this policy increased their sense of independence ... so the details of the policy were less important,' he said. Angela Mathew can be reached at
an hour ago
Real Madrid opposes Spanish league game in US, Villarreal says fans can travel for free to Miami
MADRID -- Real Madrid said it "firmly rejects" having a regular-season Spanish league game played in the United States and warned of 'a turning point in the world of football.' Villarreal, in contrast, is promising free travel and tickets for season-ticket holders if its match against Barcelona in Miami is approved in what would be a first for the league. The 17th-round match in La Liga would be played at the Hard Rock Stadium. Madrid said Tuesday it has taken action to keep the Dec. 20 match from happening, claiming it would hurt the 'integrity of the competition' and the 'legitimacy of the results.' 'The measure, which was taken without prior information or consultation of the clubs participating in the competition, infringes the essential principle of territorial reciprocity, which applies in two-legged league competitions (one match at home and the other at the home of the opposing team), upsetting the competitive balance and giving an undue sporting advantage to the applicant clubs,' Madrid said. The club said the match would set 'an unacceptable precedent that opens the door to exceptions based on non-sporting interests, clearly affecting sporting integrity and risking the adulteration of the competition.' 'If this proposal were to be carried out, its consequences would be so serious that it would be a turning point in the world of football,' Madrid said. The club said it has asked FIFA, UEFA and Spain's top sports body to not authorize the game in the U.S. The Spanish soccer federation on Monday approved a request for the match to be played in Miami. UEFA and FIFA now have to approve the request before it can be made official. 'Any modification of this nature must, in any case, have the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition, as well as strictly respecting the national and international rules governing the organization of official competitions,' Madrid said. Madrid and Spanish league president Javier Tebas have often been at odds on various issues. The club said UEFA should deny the request to play the game abroad based on the 'criterion established in 2018 that prevents official matches in domestic competitions from being played outside national territory, except in duly justified exceptional circumstances, which are not present here.' Madrid said it asked the country's high sports council 'not to grant the necessary administrative authorization without such unanimous consent.' 'Real Madrid reaffirms its commitment to respect the national and international rules that guarantee the fairness and proper functioning of official competitions, and will defend its compliance with them before all competent bodies,' the club said. Villarreal earlier Tuesday said its season ticket-holders can travel for free and receive free tickets for the match. It said those who don't want to go, or can't go, will get a 20% discount on their season tickets. 'We would be the first (Spanish) team to play a league match abroad,' Villarreal president Fernando Roig told a news conference. "It would greatly help us expand our brand in a key market like the United States.' Staging a match abroad has long been part of the league's goal to promote soccer and its brand in other countries. It first tried to stage a match in the U.S. in 2018, with a game between Barcelona and Girona, but the idea was dismissed after criticism from players, fans and clubs. Subsequent attempts to play there also failed. The league had offered compensation packages for Girona fans in 2018. It wasn't clear whether it would be Villarreal or the league paying for the travel and tickets for the club's fans this time. The attempts to play in the U.S. are part of the league's long-term partnership with sports and entertainment group Relevent Sports, which is part of Stephen Ross' portfolio of companies including Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins, the Formula One's Miami Grand Prix and the Miami Open tennis tournament. Earlier this year, it was announced that New York-based Relevent Sports has exclusive negotiating rights over the global commercial rights to the UEFA men's club competitions for the period 2027-2033. FIFA moved last year toward ending decades of soccer tradition by ordering a review of its policy that blocks domestic league games being played in other countries. Some fan groups in Spain and the country's players association on Monday expressed their disapproval of the plan to move the match thousands of kilometers away. It has become routine, though, for U.S. pro sports leagues to stage games in Europe, Asia and South America that help build their brands and fan bases.
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Gun-toting NYC trio steals $3OK Cartier Santos watch off man's wrist
A gun-toting trio robbed a man of his $30,000 Cartier Santos watch in Manhattan over the weekend — after foiling the victim's attempt to save his pricey timepiece and flee in a taxi, cops said. The 46-year-old victim was walking on West 37th Street near Dyer Avenue in Hudson Yards around 5:15 p.m. Saturday when three suspects stormed up to him and demanded the pricey watch, authorities said. The quick-thinking watch-wearer tried to get away by hopping into a taxi – but his undeterred pursuers chased after the cab, police said. Advertisement 3 The suspects approached the watch-wearing victim on West 37th Street near Dyer Avenue in Manhattan around 5:15 p.m. Saturday, cops said. DCPI Once they caught up, they flashed a gun and snatched the watch from the victim, cops said. The high-end thieves had not been caught by Tuesday, police said. Advertisement Two of them were wearing face masks, one pulled down, according to surveillance footage. One is shown wearing a distinctive oversized black hoodie emblazoned with 'SAINT' in all caps on it and another donning a gray skull cap with the words, 'PLEASURES SERVICE.' 3 The crooks — including one wearing a distinctive 'SAINT' hoodie — were undeterred when the victim escaped into a taxi, cops said. NYPD 3 The suspects flashed a gun and ultimately stole the high-end watch from the victim, cops said. NYPD Advertisement Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at on X @NYPDTips.
