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After detaining her for nearly a month, immigration officials released a young mother from custody on Wednesday after a federal judge ordered them to do so.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonado came to the U.S. in 2016 without legal status as a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor. She now has two young U.S. citizen children. 

On July 17, she was headed to her job as a self-employed painter when Homeland Security investigators stopped her and her husband in St. Paul.

Both were detained, but sent to different facilities. The mother was taken to the Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar. 

The federal judge's ruling to release her restores a prior immigration court decision granting her a $10,000 bond, an amount her church community has been raising to help get her out.

Her attorneys, Hannah Brown and Gloria Contreras Edin, say Aguilar Maldonado has no criminal record, she’s been following all the rules of her immigration case and has an active asylum application.

Tuesday’s decision was an emergency order — a temporary injunction — that allows Aguilar Maldonado to pay bond and be released while her larger immigration case is still ongoing. To grant that order, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson had to find there was a strong chance Aguilar Maldonado will win that case — something the federal government disputes.

Her attorneys say when she was arrested last month, federal agents told Aguilar Maldonado they were acting on an old deportation order. 

But that order was reopened and canceled years ago because she never received proper notice of her court hearing when she was a teenager, according to her lawyers. 

They say since then, she’s been attending all of her hearings and has stayed in compliance with the court. 

“She expressed thankfulness to us, but more importantly, I think she’s just happy to be reunited with her children and her family,” Contreras Edin said following a phone call with her client.

“The breast milk that she’s feeding her toddler is the only thing that her toddler can take. He’s allergic to other forms of milk,” the attorney said. According to her lawyers, the jail didn’t give her a breast pump right away after she was detained. Staff later purchased a manual pump for her.

On Tuesday, the courtroom was filled with supporters — some were friends, others had heard of her case.

“There are folks here who knew her and folks here who don’t know her,” attorney Hannah Brown said. “I think it was really beautiful to see so many people, so many Minnesotans, showing their support for a young mother who does not need to be detained.”

Both attorneys say Aguilar Maldonado’s husband has separate counsel and did not share further details about his case.

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Antonia Aguilar Maldonado came to the U.S. in 2016 without legal status as a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor. She now has two young U.S. citizen children and was pursuing an asylum case when she was picked up on her way to work, attorneys said.

Immigration officials release Twin Cities mom from custody after federal judge order

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