MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge Tuesday ordered a nursing Minnesota mother in federal immigration custody to be released on bond, allowing her to return to her young children as her immigration proceedings continue.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonado, 25, of Lake Elmo, has been held in Kandiyohi County Jail since her July 17 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in St. Paul. The federal government placed her on the track to deportation, citing her failure to appear in court in 2019 for a hearing in her asylum case.

Immigration Judge Kalin Ivany set a $10,000 bond for the mother of two during a hearing July 31 at the Fort Snelling Immigration Court, a decision that was appealed by the Department of Homeland Security and kept Maldonado in custody.

From the bench on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered Maldonado’s release on bond pending the conclusion in her immigration proceedings. The ruling was met with a round of applause in the courtroom after court was adjourned.

Maldonado’s attorney previously said they were able to raise the $10,000 with help from the community.

Maldonado came to the U.S. from El Salvador as an unaccompanied minor nearly a decade ago and has no criminal record.

She was still nursing her youngest child, a 22-month-old, when she was taken into custody, a point raised during Tuesday’s hearing.

“The key today is the irreparable harm Ms. Aguilar Maldonado will continue to face if she continues to be detained,” said her attorney, Hannah Brown, giving the example of the infection mastitis.

Maldonado’s three-week detention is the latest example of a change in the immigration system under President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown of people coming into the country without authorization.

In July, the Trump administration issued a policy change making undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond even if they have a pending asylum case. A class-action lawsuit challenging the policy was filed July 28 in California.

Maldonado entered the U.S. in 2016 after being abandoned by her parents in El Salvador, said her other attorney, Gloria Contreras Edin. She asked for asylum and was placed with a relative.

Maldonado left her relatives when the living situation fizzled, and she lost track of her asylum case. She was ordered removed in March 2019 after failing to appear in court. In June 2024, she revived her request for asylum.

An immigration hearing is scheduled Thursday in Fort Snelling Immigration Court.

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(Christopher Magan of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.)

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