BOSTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A plan to immediately deport a man who spent 19 years in a U.S. prison on false charges is unacceptable, a U.S. district judge in Boston says.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said while Ulysses Rodriguez Charles is facing deportation to his native Trinidad at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the former prison inmate should be allowed to remain in the United States until his civil rights lawsuit can be completed, The Boston Globe said Thursday.
Charles has been fighting deportation efforts since 2001 when he was released from prison after 19 years when DNA evidence proved he had been falsely convicted for three rapes.
While an immigration judge ordered Charles' deportation in 2003, Gertner questioned why authorities only arrested the Trinidad native in June and immediately sought a swift deportation.
"It seems to me there's no reason why ICE, having waited this long, can't wait until May," the judge said, referring to the scheduled date for Charles' lawsuit against the Boston Police Department regarding alleged civil rights violations.
