Following mounting pressure, the Immigration Customs and Enforcement has released Baldomero Orozco-Juarez, a 39-year-old poultry worker and labor advocate who was arrested during a routine check-in in April.

Jeremy Jong, an attorney with the nonprofit organization Al Otro Lado, representing him, confirmed Orozco-Juarez left LaSalle Correctional Center on Wednesday, where he had been detained since April 12.

An ICE deportation officer gave Orozco-Juarez two weeks to present new evidence he had a reason to stay in the country or that he planned to return to Guatemala, his country of origin, according to the attorney.

“We are happy that he could finally see his children and his wife after two months and that a family separated by an unjust choice is now back together,” Jong told The Advocate. “But we are very worried about what’s going to happen in two weeks.”

Orozco-Juarez filed a civil rights complaint with the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office at the Department of Homeland Security last month, claiming his arrest was in retaliation for his role in speaking out against episodes of misconduct inside U.S. factories that rely on immigrant workers.

The DHS launched a probe into his allegations, which triggered a hold on the deportation process, Jong said. However, ICE rejected his request for a stay of removal.

Last month, an ICE spokesperson said Orozco-Juarez would remain in ICE custody pending his deportation as the agency allowed him multiple opportunitiees over the past 14 years to comply with the removal order by planning his own return to Guatemala, but he never did.

The agency confirmed he enrolled Orozco-Juarez under an alternative to detention program while waiting for the next step in his case.

“Regardless of nationality, ICE makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with U.S. law and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy, considering the individual merits and factors of each case,” said an ICE spokesperson. “ICE officers make associated decisions and apply prosecutorial discretion in a responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland.”

Deportations and policies

A Mississippi resident, Orozco-Juarez spent five months in a Texas federal prison on illegal re-entry charges in 2021, and then was released after repeated pleadings from his family.

He had lived and worked in Mississippi for nearly 14 years before being among nearly 700 undocumented immigrant workers arrested during a series of sweeping ICE raids in 2019 across multiple poultry plants, including Koch Foods.

Following a deportation order before an Alexandria federal judge, he left his wife, who was disabled from a car crash, and two children behind in 2020. The children, who are 5 and 10 years old, are U.S. citizens.

He crossed the U.S./Mexico border a few months later when he was apprehended in Texas.

ICE noted the agency’s enforcement and removal team had removed Orozco-Juarez twice before the Mississippi raid, in 2006 and then again in 2009.

However, his latest arrest prompted criticism from immigrant advocacy groups and immigration attorneys because Juarez had eventually obtained a legal work permit to remain in the country and regularly checked in with immigration officials as required.

His lawyer said he also had a valid driver’s license and a social security number.

His arrest also surprised many because Orozco-Juarez was among immigrant workers who met last year with then-Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh regarding the agency’s effort to pass a new policy to protect immigrant whistleblowers who help the government unveil episodes of misconduct.

Several immigration attorneys told The Advocate that the Department of Labor might file a request for temporary immigration status — known as deferred action — before the DHS for those who can aid the enforcement of labor laws.

Asked if the Department of Labor might intervene in his case, an agency’s spokesperson said it could not comment “on the possibility of pending actions.”

Jeremy Jong said he is waiting to see whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would request immigration protection for Orozco-Juarez in relation to a case involving a plant where he had worked at in Mississippi.

He emphasized that Orozco-Juarez helped inspire a new policy the DHS issued earlier this year offering deferred action for people involved in labor investigations.

“When ICE tries to deport people who advocated these policies, it makes people not trust the government and the program itself,” he said.