The outcome is hopeful after a Thursday hearing in federal court for Owen Ramsingh, who has been detained by ICE in El Paso for a month, according to a family spokesperson.
The federal judge overseeing the case requested additional documents, and Ramsingh’s legal team is confident they can be provided, Samantha Gage Bryan posted on Facebook.
Ramsingh faces deportation after being taken into ICE custody in September on grounds that he has prior drug convictions. He lives in Columbia and has been a green card holder since 1986.
“If the attorneys can deliver those documents, the judge has indicated he will ‘terminate the removal proceedings,’ meaning Owen will not be deported and the process to bring him home to Columbia can begin, the post continued.
Bryan called it “a very encouraging development.”
“We are hesitantly optimistic and filled with cautious hope. There’s no reason to believe the team won’t be able to meet the judge’s request, and that could finally start the domino effect to get Owen home where he belongs.”
Ramsingh has been held in El Paso for a month since he was detained at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sept. 27. He was returning home from a trip to see family in the Netherlands.
The Department of Homeland Security has cited convictions for cocaine and marijuana possession as justification for his detention. The immigration policy allows officers to detain a legal resident who has former drug-related convictions upon reentry into the country.
Ramsingh moved to the United States as a child from the Netherlands and has a family in Columbia. He has made the trip back and forth from the Netherlands every year since 2020.
Bryan said the family is optimistic but cautious about the final decision: “Remember, ICE still has 30 days to appeal, so we’re not out of the dark yet, but today we’re standing in a little more light.”