A Canton mother is home with her family after spending 10 days in immigration detention — despite being a lawful permanent resident with a recently reissued green card.
- 25 Investigates: Canton mom detained at Logan Airport despite legal status released from ICE custody
- 25 Investigates: Pushing feds for answers after agents detain Canton mother with green card
25 Investigates has been pressing federal agencies for answers about why Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, 42, was detained, and lawmakers are weighing in at odds, saying her case highlights both the pressure on immigration agents and concerns about individual rights.
Her husband, Marcel Rosa, described the moment she was released Wednesday night outside the ICE facility in Burlington as “kind of like an out-of-body experience.” It was a reunion mixed with joy, relief and sadness.
Immigration agents detained Jimenez Rosa at Logan Airport on August 11th as she returned from a family vacation in Mexico. Family members say she legally came to the U.S. from Peru when she was 9 and has held a permanent resident green card since then. The U.S. government just renewed her green card earlier this summer.
“They could have just summoned us to a meeting,” Marcel Rosa told Boston 25’s Kerry Kavanaugh. “They did not have to go down this path. They chose to go down this.”
Immigration attorney Todd Pomerleau believes Jimenez Rosa was held because of a 22-year-old marijuana possession conviction. That conviction was vacated this week by Massachusetts courts.
Still, Pomerleau argues what happened was a violation of her rights.
“This is just the beginning. We demand justice for Jamie. What the federal government just said to this family is deplorable,” Pomerleau said Wednesday night.
As 25 Investigates first reported, Jimenez Rosa spent her first four days detained at Logan Airport before being transferred to an ICE facility in Maine. Pomerleau says while at Logan, she didn’t have access to a phone call, her attorneys, her medications, or even a shower.
25 Investigates reached out repeatedly to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and ICE. Each agency referred questions to another.
Late Wednesday night, CBP provided a statement:
“A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention and/or may be asked to provide additional documentation to be set up for an immigration hearing.”
The agency did not respond to allegations regarding Jimenez Rosa’s detention conditions at Logan.
State lawmakers are now weighing in.
“CBP, ICE, they have to move really fast here in Massachusetts. They got to act decisively because they’re met with such resistance here,” said Republican State Senator Peter Durant of Worcester and Hampshire.
When asked if whether acting fast risks trampling individual rights, Durant said: “I think that they have such a difficult job, and it makes it hard for the federal officers to do that job when they’re under such pressure here in Massachusetts. I think it just adds to a lot of confusion.”
“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This should not be happening,” said Democratic State Senator Paul Feeney, who represents the Bristol and Norfolk Senate District. “This doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t make us stronger.”
Feeney says he and his colleagues believe there should be some type of unified response from state lawmakers.
Family members say they are grateful Jemmy is now home and safe, but they fear what could happen to someone else.
“If anyone is in this situation, you need to move fast. Like time is of the essence. She could have been out this country that same day,” Marcel Rosa said.
Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch told 25 Investigates that after seeing our reporting, he plans to request access to the holding facility at Logan Airport to examine what’s happening there.
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