Updated at 6:37 p.m.
A man detained in an armed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement standoff in South Burlington last week was granted bond and released in immigration court Thursday.
Held at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town since last week’s ICE raid, Cristian Humberto Jerez Andrade, 31, was released about 3:40 p.m., his lawyer confirmed.
He attended a virtual bond hearing earlier in the day at the Chelmsford Immigration Court in Massachusetts and spoke via a Spanish interpreter.
After hearing arguments from his lawyer and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Judge Natalie Smith granted bond for $10,000 and asked Jerez Andrade to apply for asylum by next Thursday to avoid deportation.
Benjamin Louis Doskocil, the government’s lawyer, said DHS considers the detainee a flight risk and a danger to the community. He referred to a domestic abuse conviction from 2022 and other outstanding warrants allegedly pulled from Jerez Andrade’s criminal history.
He did not provide the court with details or copies of the warrants. In a separate federal court hearing earlier in the week, the government’s lawyer in that case similarly told the court that a defendant might have active warrants. No details were provided in that hearing either.
Nathan Virag, an attorney with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont who represented Jerez Andrade at the hearing, said there is no evidence substantiating the details of the alleged past crimes. He said his client maintains there was no physical altercation but an issue of neighbors reporting an argument. Jerez Andrade pleaded not guilty to the abuse charge then but later changed his plea, based on his lawyer’s advice, Virag said.
ICE’s March 11 raid on a Dorset Street home led to an hourslong confrontation, street shutdown and forced entry by federal agents amid widespread protest. Jerez Andrade was among three people detained. He was not named on the search warrant ICE officials showed up with that evening and has not been charged with a crime.
Doskocil said federal officials surveilling the South Burlington house found it concerning that the detainee appeared to be living there with another person who was allegedly under house arrest, but again, no details were provided. He agreed the person ICE was seeking was not found there last week.
Doskocil outlined a car accident earlier in the day in which a motor vehicle with two individuals in it “rammed the government vehicle” and “hit other vehicles.” The two men then ran into the house under surveillance, which led to “additional law enforcement activity,” Doskocil said.
Federal officials detained two men in the house, including Jerez Andrade. The other, a U.S. citizen, was later released, Doskocil said. While there seems to be “some confusion or some inaccuracies” about who was home, Doskocil said, the government finds the detainee is dangerous and a flight risk.
Virag said his client voluntarily agreed to be interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for two and a half hours Wednesday, the day before Thursday’s hearing, about the March 11 car accident and incident.
Jerez Andrade moved to the Dorset Street house just two weeks prior to the raid and would like to pursue legal residency in the U.S., Virag said.
Jerez Andrade has a child — who is a U.S. citizen and whose sixth birthday he missed this week — as well as a partner of seven years and a history of cooperation with law enforcement, including showing up for scheduled court dates, Virag said.
Jerez Andrade also has extensive community support, Virag said. This was on display earlier this week in federal court where there was testimony from his partner, brother and sister who are U.S. citizens and Vermont residents, the lawyer said, adding that some of them are willing to house him upon his release.
“I can’t stress enough the outpouring of community support that Mr. Cristian has,” Virag said at the hearing. “He’s done nothing but try to be better for his family, his community. He’s worked in construction. He’s worked in a local school here. He’s a very respected member of this community.”
Based on the evidence provided, the judge did not find Jerez Andrade to be a danger to the community or any indication he would not comply with the requirements of the past conviction. She considered he might be a flight risk but said the bond could ameliorate that.
The government may appeal the bond hearing decision by April 20.
Addressing the removal proceedings, Smith, the judge in Thursday’s hearing, told Jerez Andrade that the government has indicated he could be deported from the United States. Jerez Andrade said, via an interpreter, that he fears returning to Honduras and said he would like to pursue options to stay in the U.S.
In her ruling Thursday, the judge considered Jerez Andrade’s 11 years in the U.S., his family and community ties, his employment history and his fear for safety in Honduras. The judge added that the court is willing to allow him time to find an attorney to help seek immigration relief. His application for asylum must be postmarked by next Thursday, March 26, the judge said.
A hearing is scheduled April 2.
In a separate hearing Tuesday, a federal judge in Burlington had decided to keep Jerez Andrade detained, concerned he could be taken into custody on an outstanding warrant and moved out of state. Jerez Andrade said he wasn’t aware of any warrants, and the government’s lawyer did not present evidence of any warrants.
Federal Judge William K. Sessions III ordered the bond hearing in immigration court within five days. If Jerez Andrade had not been released in immigration court, Sessions had planned to have him back in federal court for a hearing that would examine whether his detainment violated his constitutional rights.
Jerez Andrade, who is a citizen of Honduras, was detained at the Dorset Street house with two others — sisters Jisella Johana Patin Patin, 31, and Daysi Camila Patin Patin, 20, who are citizens of Ecuador. Neither of them has been charged with crimes related to the ICE raid last week.
Local lawyers speedily filed habeas corpus petitions in court alleging the three were detained unlawfully by ICE and obtained temporary orders to prevent the three from being transferred out of state.
Johana Patin Patin, who has lived in Vermont for three years, was quickly released on bail Monday by a federal judge in Burlington. Her lawyer argued she was not a flight risk nor a danger to the community. She has two children in the schools and a pending asylum case.
Camila Patin Patin’s hearing is scheduled for Friday at the federal court in Burlington. She fled Ecuador fearing for her life three years ago and entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, according to court documents.
The detentions have led to an outcry and sustained public protest, with friends, neighbors, advocacy organizations and faith groups, as well as elected officials, calling for their immediate release.
Meanwhile, the person who was subject of the ICE warrant that led to the standoff and violence in South Burlington last week — Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, 24, a Mexican citizen — remains at large.
Correction: A previous version of the story incorrectly identified which country Camila Patin Patin immigrated from.
