Newark, NJ – A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of Diana M. Rivera Zumba, a 44-year-old Ecuadorian woman who has lived in the United States for more than two decades, ruling that her detention violated federal immigration law and the Constitution.

In a decision issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden found that Rivera Zumba’s confinement under Section 235 of the Immigration and Nationality Act was unlawful. The court held that the statute, which mandates detention for certain noncitizens during removal proceedings, did not apply to her case.

Rivera Zumba entered the country without inspection in 2002 and has remained in New Jersey ever since. She and her late husband were placed in removal proceedings in 2017, but after an initial denial of her application f

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