Bay Area man released by ICE but still faces deportation
Bay Area man released by ICE but still faces deportation
A Bay Area man caught up in a deportation nightmare said Thursday that he was relieved to be released after being locked up for 2½ months in five different detention facilities.
[...] Daniel Maher of Hayward said he knows his freedom could be brief because federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are still threatening to boot him from the county over a 1994 robbery that sent him to prison for five years.
Maher was detained by ICE under its enforcement policy targeting “aggravated felons.”
Going forward, Prasad said he will continue to request that ICE exercise discretion, which would allow Maher to stay in the country, or seek a pardon from Gov. Jerry Brown.
Maher made national news for his detention, garnering more than 3,000 signatures on a petition demanding his release and prompting protests.
ICE arrested him at his home June 2, citing a deportation order from 2000 that also fell through because of a lack of travel documents.
In 1994, Maher, then 20, was involved in an armed robbery at a San Jose auto parts store and convicted of kidnapping, robbery and firearms offenses — all felony crimes.