Dominican man detained by ICE after 28 years in Puerto Rico wins bond hearing order
Aug 11, 2026·Location: San Juan, PR
Country of origin: Dominican Republic
Juan Francisco Areche Minaya, a 49-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic, entered Puerto Rico without inspection around 1998 and has lived in the United States for more than 28 years without any reported criminal history. He has two U.S.-citizen children, ages 20 and 12, whom he financially supports, and he also supports his U.S.-citizen mother, who has documented illnesses; his mother twice filed I-130 petitions on his behalf, both of which were approved. On August 11, 2026, seven masked ICE agents approached and detained Areche in San Juan, Puerto Rico while he was waiting to retrieve electrical materials for a job, and he was taken into immigration custody without prior warning. He is currently detained at the GSA Guaynabo Immigration Center. Areche filed a habeas corpus petition arguing his detention violates the INA and his Fifth Amendment due process rights, along with an emergency motion for a TRO seeking to block his transfer out of Puerto Rico and to obtain a bond hearing. The court found he is likely governed by the discretionary detention framework of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) rather than mandatory detention, and granted the TRO, ordering that he not be transferred outside the District of Puerto Rico and that he receive a bond hearing before an Immigration Judge by August 25, 2026. The habeas petition itself was held in abeyance pending further briefing from the government.