Immigration lawyer seeks release of Sheboygan Falls woman

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SHEBOYGAN FALLS – An immigration lawyer will ask today for the immediate release of a Sheboygan Falls woman who has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for nearly two months, even after an immigration judge ruled she could stay in the United States.

Ohio-based immigration lawyer Nazly Mamedova plans to dispute the detention of Elvira Benitez-Suarez, 51, who is being held at the Campbell County Detention Center in northern Kentucky, in front of a federal judge today.

Mamedova filed a habeas petition on behalf of Benitez-Suarez on March 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The petition asked for her immediate release and challenged her detention by ICE during a check-in appointment in Milwaukee on March 10.

Benitez-Suarez has lived in Wisconsin for 35 years and is the mother of four U.S. citizen children. At 15 years old, she fled sexual assault and domestic violence in Mexico. She has no criminal record.

Benitez-Suarez was at the check-in appointment related to her immigration case.

Benitez-Suarez was detained in summer 2025 after a GPS error took her and her family in the wrong direction on a road trip to Niagara Falls, causing them to accidentally cross the U.S.-Canadian border.

Benitez-Suarez was in immigration detention in Ohio for about six months until an immigration judge determined deportation would cause exceptional harm to her children, two of whom are school-aged. She was released from custody.

The judge’s ruling canceling her deportation order meant she would have automatically received a green card, or legal permanent residency, had the federal government not filed an appeal in her case.

Mamedova has filed dozens of habeas petitions, typically for individuals who are crossing the border or have had parole revoked and been unlawfully detained, but this is the first time this court has requested an in-person hearing for one of her clients.

This federal court has a reputation of denying habeas petitions, she said.

U.S. District Judge Chad Meredith was nominated by President Donald Trump in June 2025 and confirmed to the Eastern District of Kentucky in fall 2025. Former President Joe Biden planned to nominated Meredith, known for his record defending anti-abortion laws, but later backed off, the Associated Press reported.

Mamedova said Benitez-Suarez’s case is different than other cases that have appeared before the court because she already won in immigration court. She thinks the court requesting a hearing reflects Benitez-Suarez’s unique situation and could be a positive sign.

Habeas petitions from immigrants who believe they have been unlawfully detained have reached a record high under Trump’s second administration, according to ProPublica. More than 18,000 challenges have been filed in federal court since the beginning of 2025, which is more than those filed under the last three administrations combined.

Mamedova said she will argue that Benitez-Suarez should be released for two reasons: she’s not a public safety threat and is unlikely to flee, so she doesn’t fall under mandatory detention rules; and ICE violated her due process rights in their surprise arrest at the check-in appointment.

Mamedova said the agency didn’t provide notice of why Benitez-Suarez was being detained or give her an opportunity to rebuttal that she’s not a flight risk or danger to the community.

Marc Christopher, who is representing Benitez-Suarez in her first immigration case, previously told the Sheboygan Press they were stopped after leaving the check-in appointment and were told to come back inside, where she was detained.

“Clearly, ICE had no intention of detaining her before that,” Mamedova said.

If the judge grants Benitez-Suarez’s habeas petition at the hearing, Mamedova said she could be immediately released or appear before an immigration judge for a bond determination, where a detained individual’s flight risk or danger to the community is assessed.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson didn’t answer a question about why Benitez-Suarez was detained in March, but they previously said in a statement that “being in detention is a choice,” and urged immigrants without documentation to leave the U.S.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kentucky involved in this case could not be immediately reached for comment.

Christopher said holding Benitez-Suarez in jail during the appeals process of her first immigration case, which could take months or longer, is “nothing but cruel.”

Benitez-Suarez’s second detention has taken another emotional toll on her family. Her 12-year-old daughter, Natalie Chavez, said at a Voces de la Frontera press conference in Milwaukee that she’s had to face anxiety and panic attacks without her mom’s support, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Crystal Aguilar, one of Benitez-Suarez’s adult daughters, told the Sheboygan Press that life in Sheboygan Falls without her mom for the last couple of months has been unpredictable and challenging.

In addition to managing her own responsibilities of school and work and not knowing when her mom may call, she’s had to support her younger siblings, who are struggling with mental health, and help with her mom and stepdad’s business.

“She definitely is the glue of the family,” Aguilar said. “It’s hard to see that everybody’s struggling.”

Aguilar said her family is hopeful that the federal judge is holding a hearing for her mom’s habeas petition and that she’ll be able to come home.

“Maybe he’s sympathetic, and I think he probably wants to put a face to the person that’s being detained,” she said.

Aguilar previously said Benitez-Suarez has been “in despair” during phone calls at the detention center, but she sounded in “better spirits” during a recent call because she was granted a hearing.

“I think she’s really just trying to hang on,” she said.