A man who was detained by immigrations authorities in New Bedford had his case dismissed.
Read the original version of this story in Spanish on Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra / Lea la versión original de esta historia en español en Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra.
An immigrant taken into custody when ICE agents smashed his car's window in New Bedford, Massachusetts, last month may soon be released from custody after an immigration judge said the government failed to prosecute the case, the man's lawyer said.
Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are.
WATCH HEREJuan Francisco Méndez — who spoke to Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra in a call from jail on Thursday — was out for a dentist's appointment on April 15 with his wife when ICE and FBI agents detained him in an incident they caught on video and which quickly was shared around the country.
"I've never been in jail before. It's my first time. I don't know how to explain it, It's a place where you wouldn't want other people or your family to come. You don't remember the day or the time," Méndez said in Spanish during the phone call.
Get updates on what's happening in Boston to your inbox with our News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP Hear Méndez' interview atop the Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra's story.
But an immigration judge heard the Guatemalan's case on Thursday and said the government failed to bring charging documents, Ondine Gálvez told Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra.
“The court is going to close this case as a failure to prosecute,” Judge Donald Ostrom said, according to The Boston Globe, which reported that a government lawyer didn't say anything during the hearing.
Gálvez said she took the Department of Homeland Security attorney's silence "as an admission of guilt."
"They were guilty of this unlawful arrest; they were guilty of this unlawful detention, for almost a month, of my client; and they didn't have any reason to detain him in the first place. So, their silence really speaks volumes," she said, adding that there was plenty of time for a background check on Méndez to turn up information to present in court, "and they found absolutely nothing."
It can take time for a judge's ruling to reach ICE, Gálvez said, so she didn't know when he would be released. While she said he has a right to sue the government, what was most important to him was gaining legal status in the United States — something he was in the process of doing.
Méndez said he'll never forget the day of his arrest.
"I felt like my world had fallen apart. I felt like, I'm not a criminal, that I'm not a person with problems, that I'm not a delinquent. I just don't want to remember that moment because it's very hard for me," he said.
