Santa Cruz County resident and green card holder Cliona Ward released from ICE custody

SANTA CRUZ Cliona Ward a green card holder and Santa Cruz County resident that has been held by U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than two weeks was granted release by a federal judge Wednesday according to Rep Jimmy Panetta Related Articles Man booked on attempted murder in San Jose police officer stabbing Ronn Owens daughter indicted in alleged Bachelor paternity fraud Berkeley police officer video of April shooting issued but details missing Cliff-jumper still missing after rescue operation near Santa Cruz coast Fortunate to be alive Oakland murder development thrown out through plea deal Cliona Ward s release demonstrates what can happen when we come together to fight for transparency due process and justice We fought for Cliona from the top down and the bottom up Panetta wrote in a comment I pressured bureaucrats from the White House to the Irish ruling body We worked with her exceptional legal unit from Seattle to Santa Cruz And we coordinated with area advocates and her family We fought to make sure that all of the facts about Cliona and her circumstance were presented so that the Court could use its full discretion and do the right thing Ward who moved to the United States from her native Ireland when she was was stopped by immigration officials in Washington state in late March on her way back to Santa Cruz from a trip to her homeland to visit her ailing father The federal functionaries called into question Ward s decades-old drug possession convictions that Ward explained had been expunged and cleared from her record But despite presenting this information to administrators in San Francisco in early April she was taken into custody by frontier protection officers and eventually moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma Washington where she had been confined since April This story will be updated