In “The cornerstone 2026” I noted the case of Junior de Jesus Herrera Berrios, the “Burnsville man” (according to the Star Tribune) who was tackled and detained by ICE agents in the Hennepin County Government Center. He was apprehended when he sought to run away from the agents following a state court hearing on drug charges. The drug charges derive from a traffic stop resulting in the discovery of 57 pounds of methamphetamine in his car.
Although Herrera Berrios’s town of origin has yet to be reported, I was pretty sure Burnsville wan’t it. You could say he’s obviously just another solid citizen, but I’m also pretty sure he’s neither a citizen nor of the law-abiding kind.
Herrera Berrios has now been released from ICE custody on the order of Senior Minnesota Federal District Judge Donovan Frank. The current Star Tribune story on his habeas case includes this paragraph:
Several of the court records in the case were sealed, but Frank’s order notes that while the federal government argued Herrera Berrios was detained as part of a Title 8 immigration enforcement, that does not apply to Herrera Berrios because “he has been in the United States for over three years” and is not an arriving noncitizen.
The sealing of the court records has become par for the course. I don’t understand why. The rest of the paragraph implicitly rests on immigration law. Judge Frank’s order is posted online here.
The Star Tribune to the contrary notwithstanding, Judge Frank describes Herrera Berrios as a St. Paul resident (and citizen of Guatemala). According to Judge Frank, Señor Herrera Berrios lives with his girlfriend and has strong ties to the community. With 57 pounds of meth to sell, he must have had quite a few local customers strengthening his ties to the community.
In my “Cornerstone” post I quoted optimistically from Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” — “Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria…All they will call you will be deportees.” All I can say at this time is that we won’t call Junior de Jesus Herrera Berrios “deportee” any time soon.
