10-05-2025
Despite dismissal new hearing set for Guatemalan man arrested by ICE in New Bedford
NEW BEDFORD – The Guatemalan man whose violent arrest in New Bedford by ICE was caught on video faces a new hearing though the case was dismissed May 8 when the Dept. of Homeland Security failed to submit a charging document.
Attorney Ondine Galvez Sniffin represents Juan Francisco Méndez, 29. He was pulled from his car April 14 after ICE agents smashed in a window to his car, which was caught on video by his wife, Marilú.
Sniffin has said Méndez has no record and it may have been a case of mistaken identity. His wife has asylum status which provides him with legal benefits that they had been working on obtaining prior to the arrest.
Sniffin said standard procedure was followed May 8 by Judge Donald Ostrom in U.S. Immigration Court in Chelmsford when he dismissed the case after the government failed to provide the charging document.
But, she said, the judge 'in his wisdom' continued a bond hearing where Méndez could be released on bail to May 15 anyway in case there was a 'glitch,' and Méndez was still in jail at that time.
That glitch materialized on May 9.
Sniffin said Méndez should have been released after the May 8 dismissal.
She tried contacting the Dept. of Homeland Security on May 9 to arrange the release but didn't get a response.
By that afternoon attorney Ryan P. Sullivan, who also represents Méndez, had filed a motion for immediate release with U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante for the District of New Hampshire. It was denied.
Sullivan had previously filed a habeas petition with that court and Judge Laplante ordered immigration officials to provide 72 hours notice before transferring Méndez anywhere.
The judge denied the motion to release on May 9.
The government had argued it hadn't been given an opportunity to counter argue, Sniffin said.
They said the May 8 hearing wasn't valid because it was held under Méndez's incorrect identification number, or A for alien number. It's used by Immigration until a person becomes a citizen.
Sniffin added, 'Mind you, it was their mistake.'
A new hearing has been scheduled for May 22 back in U.S. Immigration Court.
However, there's still the continued bond hearing on May 15.
Sniffin said she called the court and tried to get the cases combined. They said no. They said one was a bond hearing, and the other was to determine if there's a case.
'So we're going to confront the same garbage' that they confronted May 8.
'DHS still has not filed a charging document for the May 22 hearing. They did the same thing again. They just asked the court to schedule a hearing. It's scheduled and they have not filed a charging document again,' she said.
Méndez is not charged with anything, she said. 'They're holding him without having filed a single document.'
He is still being held by the Strafford County Dept. of Corrections in Dover, N.H.
She hopes their argument will be heard May 15 and remove the need for a May 22 hearing, but she doesn't know.
She said the maneuvering seemed retaliatory.
'This is what you get for opening your mouth. That's what I think they're doing. They're punishing my client because this got media attention nationwide,' Sniffin said.
An ICE spokesman referred requests for comment to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, which has not responded.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New hearing set for Guatemalan man arrested by ICE in New Bedford
