Feds drop appeal involving bond for man jailed more than 3 years on immigration hold

Marjorie Cortez, Deseret News, Sept. 21, 2016- "U.S. Department of Justice attorneys have dropped the appeal of a Utah federal judge's decision to grant an individualized bond hearing to a Salt Lake man who had been detained in the Utah County Jail for more than three years on an immigration hold while he fought deportation.

Martin Chairez-Castrejon, through his attorney, filed a writ in U.S. District Court in November 2015 asking the court to order that he be allowed to have a bond hearing.

U.S. District Judge Jill N. Parrish, after conducting a hearing in May, ordered an immigration judge to conduct the hearing.

In late June, Judge David Anderson held a half-day hearing and set Chairez's bond at $50,000. Chairez was released from the Utah County Jail on July 8 after his family posted bond. 

Department of Justice attorneys later appealed Parrish's decision to grant the bond hearing. But according to recent 10th Circuit Court of Appeals records, they filed a motion to withdraw the appeal.

The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.

Chairez's attorney, Skyler Anderson, said the government's appeal of Parrish's decision was "in my opinion, it was a foolish move on their part.”

"In my view, it's such a slam-dunk case as far as showing the unreasonableness. They're trying to take an indefensible position that there's no limitation, that you can hold them forever without a bond hearing — as long as it takes them. So that's why I was surprised that they filed the appeal in the first place. Also I was confident it would result in a published decision that would be favorable to us," he said."