Nearly a year in jail, stowaway freed
Judge assails US on handling of deportation
A federal judge has ordered the release of a Nigerian immigrant who was jailed for 11 months after he was ordered deported, ruling that immigration officials had failed to justify detaining him for so long.
In his ruling issued last week, US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro ordered federal officials to release Sunday Agbata, a 27-year-old former auto factory worker.
He was arrested in July 2008 while trying to enter the United States illegally, as a stowaway on a ship from West Africa, and was ordered deported later that month.
Generally the government has 90 days to deport immigrants, though the process can take longer. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants should not be jailed for more than six months after their deportation order is final, except in certain circumstances.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they had kept Agbata in jail because he had no identification and was not helping them obtain travel documents from Nigeria that are needed to deport him. They had said he should be deported in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Tauro wrote that ICE had failed to provide any evidence that Agbata was uncooperative - and had also failed to notify Agbata in writing about his alleged lack of cooperation, as required.
“The government has failed to identify any instance of willful noncompliance,’’ the judge wrote in a four-page decision issued Thursday. “Vague assertions that he refused to cooperate do not justify [Agbata’s] continued detention absent specific information about what more [he] could have done.’’
Agbata was released within hours of the ruling.
In a recent interview with the Globe from Suffolk County jail, Agbata said he was desperate to get out from behind bars.
His lawyer, Andrea Sáenz of the Boston-based Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project, which discovered his case during a routine visit to jail, said Agbata had been cooperative. She said he filled out government forms, called the Nigerian consulate both in October and in January, and made other preparations for deportation.
“It’s unfair to ask somebody to come up with information that they don’t have and then blame them for that,’’ she said. “Sunday is this sweet, helpful guy who tried to answer every question he was given.’’
In a Globe article published in June, Jim Martin, deputy field office director of detention and removal operations for ICE in New England, said that Agbata “didn’t cooperate’’ with federal officials in obtaining travel documents that are required to deport him.
Yesterday, ICE spokesman Michael Gilhooly declined to comment, referring questions to the US attorney’s office.
The US attorney’s office has 60 days to appeal Tauro’s decision, said spokeswoman Christina Sterling.
“The government continues to believe that Nigeria will issue travel documents and the removal of Agbata will go forward soon,’’ said acting US Attorney Michael Loucks in a statement.
Delays in deportation can occur for reasons beyond the US government’s control, such as whether the foreign country will issue documents, including a passport, that are required for immigrants to travel.
Agbata and another stowaway, Alex Duna of Ghana, were arrested in July 2008 when they arrived in Providence on a ship from Benin. Duna was ordered released last month pending deportation.
Yesterday, Agbata was staying in East Boston with a former fellow inmate, a member of a Bible study group in jail, while Duna is believed to be in Brockton with friends, Sáenz said.
Both still face deportation and are required to check in with the federal government regularly. Neither man has a criminal record, their lawyers have said. 