A federal judge in Orlando rejected an attempt to secure the release of the owner of Uncle Lou’s Entertainment Hall late last week, ruling that he must go through a bond hearing before an immigration judge.
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Cleon Williams’ attorney, Phillip Arroyo, argued in court filings that ICE’s delay in transferring Williams from the Orange County Jail following his May 9 arrest was unlawful and merited immediate release. ICE had filed the warrant to take him into custody long after the 72-hour window to pick him up had lapsed.
On Friday, District Judge Julie Sneed disagreed. In a three page order, Sneed ruled Williams’ “allegedly unlawfully prolonged detention by local law enforcement ended” when Williams was taken in by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on May 19, 10 days after he was arrested.
Instead, Williams is entitled to a bond hearing, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in court filings it was seeking to arrange.
“Should [Williams] wish to challenge his present detention by federal officials, he may do so by initiating another case,” wrote Sneed as she dismissed the petition “without prejudice.”
Arroyo did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the immigration courts within the U.S. Department of Justice, did not respond to questions about when Williams’ bond hearing is expected to take place.
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Williams, a stalwart of Orlando’s indie music scene known affectionately as Uncle Lou, was arrested following an undercover operation at his business involving allegedly illegal liquor sales. However, he was jailed solely on an immigration detainer, as he overstayed a temporary work visa after arriving from Jamaica in 1987.
The Orange County case accusing him of selling liquor without a license, a second-degree misdemeanor, is ongoing.
Four days after his arrest, Williams filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that ICE — despite a detainer — had not issued a warrant to take him into custody and was languishing in the jail even after the agreement with the county allowing him to be kept there for 72 hours had lapsed. Records show that warrant was issued May 19, the same day he was picked up, and taken to the Baker County Detention Center in Macclenny where he remains, according to ICE’s detainee locator.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Bloor admitted in his response to Williams’ petition that he had no explanation for the delay while arguing Williams should appear before an immigration judge to determine whether he will receive bond.
Arroyo, meanwhile, argued that past rulings determined warrantless arrests by ICE should only happen in cases where a migrant is a flight risk. That includes an Orange County arrest Sneed ruled was illegal after the detainee, a Colombian woman stopped while driving for Lyft, presented paperwork demonstrating she had no intention to flee.
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Those arguments were not addressed in Sneed’s order in Williams’ case.