Keene resident freed after bond ruling in federal court

U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs determined that ICE could not keep detaining him without first providing a bond hearing.

A Keene man held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was released Wednesday after a federal judge in Boston ordered a bond hearing and he later posted a $1,500 bond, according to court filings.

The case centers on a contractor from Ecuador who has lived in the United States for more than a decade after entering without authorization. He was taken into custody by ICE in Keene on Aug. 8 and then confined in Massachusetts while his immigration case continued. Because he is still moving through immigration proceedings, the Sentinel is not naming him.

U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs determined that ICE could not keep detaining him without first providing a bond hearing. Under standard practice, bond can be granted when a person is not considered a flight risk or a threat to public safety.

Court records show that his wife, who is a permanent resident, has asked for his legal status to be adjusted, and that the couple has three U.S. citizen children. He was arrested in Keene as he was heading to work on Sept. 8, according to the documents.

The arrest came during a period when residents reported seeing ICE officers in Keene for several days around Aug. 8. The agency did not answer questions about those activities, though former state Rep. Joe Schapiro, who works closely with the immigrant community, said three people were detained. The Sentinel has not identified the other two.

An Everett, Mass., immigration lawyer, Stephen Born, said ICE is now detaining people who are already in the middle of efforts to obtain permanent residency, a departure from what he described as earlier practice. He said immigration officials are holding and removing people even when they are working, paying taxes and trying to complete the legal process.

Born also pointed to delays at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying long wait times in the system have become a major issue while ICE continues making arrests.

The Trump administration has argued that immigration enforcement must be tougher because of what it described as record unlawful immigration during former President Joe Biden’s term and broader public safety concerns.

A separate report from the nonprofit, nonpartisan CATO Institute, based on ICE detention figures, found that 73 percent of people booked into ICE detention facilities from Oct. 1, 2025, through Nov. 15, 2025, had no criminal conviction. Among those with convictions, 6 percent were for traffic offenses, 5 percent for violent crimes, 5 percent for immigration offenses, 3 percent for property crimes, 3 percent for vice offenses and 4 percent for other categories.