An Ypsilanti man won't have to sit in jail while he waits to fight deportation.
At a hearing Thursday, a judge set a $5,000 bond for Jose Valle-Rodriguez, after determining he isn't a flight risk or a threat to national security. He’s expected to be released today, after his family posts bond.
His lawyer, Brad Thomson, says Valle-Rodriguez has filed an asylum petition and will also file a marriage petition once his wife Karina becomes a naturalized citizen.
"Because we were able to establish that he potentially has relief against deportation, the judge was more willing to offer bond,” Thomson said.
Valle-Rodriguez fled from El Salvador when he was 17-years-old. A judge ordered him deported in 2005 after he missed an immigration hearing. But Thomson says the 31-year-old never got a notice for the hearing because of a clerical error.
On May 24th, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Valle-Rodriguez in a parking lot, while he was out running errands with his wife and their two-year-old son.
He was one of several people taken into custody by ICE agents during a round-up in Washtenaw County.
