Cleary Gottlieb, partnering with Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS), represented J.M., a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Central America in proceedings for a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to challenge his more than nine month long detention in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
In 2018, J.M. fled to the United States from his home in Central America after the murder of multiple family members by a criminal gang active in his community. He was initially detained for two months before being released to his mother pursuant to special protections he was afforded as an unaccompanied minor. However, in 2019, he was rearrested by immigration authorities outside of a New York courthouse, and was detained. As a result of Cleary and BDS’s representation, on April 6, 2020, J.M. was released from detention on humanitarian parole to live with his mother in New York.