Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a Massachusetts mother of four earlier this month after she returned to the U.S. with her passport and valid green card.
Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, a lawful permanent resident for 33 years who was born in Peru, was stopped at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Aug. 11 in front of her husband and three of her four children after a family trip to Mexico. Her attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said the only explanation provided for her detainment was a misdemeanor marijuana conviction from two decades ago — a charge that had already been pardoned.
During the 10 days she was held, Jimenez Rosa was hospitalized twice after being denied her prescribed medications, transferred between multiple facilities — including one housing only men — and blocked from contacting her legal team, according to Pomerleau. Her family struggled to track her whereabouts or receive answers about why she was detained.
Jimenez Rosa was finally released on Aug. 20 after a judge vacated her decades-old conviction. Still, ICE did not allow her to wait inside for her family or notify her husband and attorneys. Instead, she was left to walk half a mile in the rain to a nearby mall, where a stranger let her use a phone to call her husband. Her family met her there, nearly 30 miles from their home.
Her attorney described the ordeal as part of a broader anti-immigration agenda pursued under the Trump administration. While officials argue that enforcement efforts target “dangerous criminals,” Jimenez Rosa’s only record was the misdemeanor marijuana possession charge from 2003 — a charge later dismissed when Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) issued mass pardons in March 2024.
Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows that, as of Aug. 10, more than 70% of immigration detainees — 41,822 out of 59,380 — had no criminal record.
“People who are entitled to immigration court hearings and due process just end up outside of the country and have been ‘disappeared’ with no respect for the constitutional and statutory rights,” Pomerleau told HuffPost. “She was held for several days, with no written notice, no phone access, and when three of my colleagues tried to meet her, they were told she didn’t have a right to counsel.”
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told HuffPost:
“A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention and/or may be asked to provide additional documentation to be set up for an immigration hearing.”
Pomerleau said her detention was “unlawful” and that immigration officials only hinted at the marijuana conviction as justification after it was vacated.
“I’ve never seen such an egregious set of facts in my career. It was totally unnecessary and uncalled for. There was no legal justification. It was inhumane,” he said.
Her husband, Marcel Rosa, described the scene at the airport as devastating.
“You’d have to be in that room to understand. My daughters watched their mother collapse into a chair, her spirit just gone. And the agents acted like it was nothing, even as they tore my family apart,” he told HuffPost.
Since her release, he said the family has struggled to recover.
“My wife cries constantly. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone. She’s paranoid. Honestly, we all are. I think she’s permanently damaged,” he said.
A GoFundMe fundraiser has raised more than $26,000 to help cover emergency legal fees and other expenses.
Rosa warned others who are not U.S. citizens about traveling right now:
“If you’re not a U.S. citizen and have a vacation planned, cancel it — even if you lose money. It’s not worth the nightmare. This can happen to anyone, and once you’re caught up in the system, it’s very hard to get out.”
