Kevin G. Andrade

1 month ago | newbedfordlight.org | Kevin G. Andrade

CHELMSFORD — A New Bedford man whose April detention during an immigration raid made international headlines, with video of federal agents smashing in his car window, is set to be released as soon as Thursday after an immigration judge found the Department of Homeland Security did not file charges in the case. Judge Donald Ostrom declared a failure to prosecute Juan Francisco Méndez Thursday morning after a motion by Ondine Gálvez Sniffin, Méndez’s attorney.

1 month ago | newbedfordlight.org | Kevin G. Andrade |Eleonora Bianchi

NEW BEDFORD — Juan Ramón Alegría Rodas, 43, prepared a dinner he would never eat: ribs, wings, a radish salad. By 7 p.m. on Monday, his wife, Patricia, and their 15-year-old daughter, Melissa, sat at the table, the third plate untouched. His absence hung over the meal, leaving a family caught between hunger and dread, unsure whether to lift their forks or simply sit in silence. Rodas was arrested on Monday in the North End of New Bedford while on his way to pick up his daughter from school.

1 month ago | newbedfordlight.org | Eleonora Bianchi |Kevin G. Andrade

A 32-year-old New Bedford resident who has lived in the United States since he was 2 years old is in immigration detention in Maine due to a drug charge resolved a decade ago, according to his attorney. At the end of March, after returning from a vacation abroad, Rui Murras was detained by U.S. immigration officers at the airport. He is currently being held at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, Maine, while his family fights to bring him home.

2 months ago | newbedfordlight.org | Kevin G. Andrade

NEW BEDFORD — Monday morning was already busy for Otoniel Riz Benito and his livery business when an unfamiliar number flashed on his phone.  “He said he wanted a ride to court,” recalls Riz Benito in Spanish. The man, later identified as Manuel Ruiz, 54, originally of Guatemala, needed a ride to New Bedford District Court for a 9 a.m. hearing for a misdemeanor charge of operating under the influence from March 29, according to court records.

2 months ago | newbedfordlight.org | Kevin G. Andrade

NEW BEDFORD — Schools Superintendent Andrew O’Leary called on federal officials to restore a rescinded memorandum preventing civil immigration enforcement operations at sensitive locations during a demonstration outside City Hall on Saturday. About 200 people attended the demonstration as a reaction to a March 21 raid on a home on Viall Street where federal agents used a battering ram to enter the home while dressed in military fatigues without showing a warrant, according to the residents.