Plainview man arrested by ICE reunited with family after 9 months in jail

A Plainview man had a teary reunion with his family early Wednesday after he was released from nine months of detention in ICE jails during which he says he tried to die by suicide.

Juan Bonilla Lagos, 32, embraced his wife and two children around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan after taking a nine-hour ride from Buffalo.

It was a "very difficult nine months," Bonilla Lagos told Newsday in Spanish outside the bus terminal. "I suffered many things that I don’t wish upon anyone."

His wife, who did not want her name used for fear of repercussions, said in Spanish that she was "very happy. ... I’m a bit in shock. I fought so hard. When they said he was freed, I said, ‘We did it!’ "

The case of Bonilla Lagos, who has a history of mental health issues, raised questions about how ICE is dealing with such detainees amid what President Donald Trump says will be the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history.

Bonilla Lagos said he fled gangs that threatened him in his native Colombia and entered the United States illegally, although he has a pending asylum application. He has no criminal record.

He was living in Plainview when he was arrested by ICE near his home in October. He was ordered freed from an ICE jail near Buffalo by an immigration judge, the Department of Homeland Security told Newsday in a statement.

The immigration judge granted Bonilla Lagos bond on July 1 in the amount of $30,000, according to DHS and his pro bono attorney, Greg Della Posta. His family said he posted bond on July 2, and he was released Tuesday from the ICE jail in Batavia.

Bonilla Lagos was one of the lucky ones, since many detained immigrants are not getting proper — or any — legal representation, said Marinda van Dalen, of the Manhattan-based nonprofit New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, which assisted him.

"Everything is an uphill battle these days," she said. "There are too many people who are sitting in immigration detention who are unrepresented and who should be released and aren't able to access the courts."

Bonilla Lagos was profiled by Newsday in May and became emblematic of the trauma Trump’s national mass deportation campaign is causing as families get separated, immigration advocates and psychiatrists said.

Arrest in family car

He was arrested by agents as his wife and 5-year-old son were in the family car with him — a scene captured by his wife on her cellphone as she and the boy cried and frantically begged the agents not to take him.

Trump says his campaign is targeting dangerous and violent criminals — "the worst of the worst" — though Newsday has reported that less than 5% of immigrants jailed at Nassau County Correctional Facility through a partnership with ICE were convicted of violent crimes.

Della Posta, who was also handling the case as part of the Erie County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project, said on Monday that Bonilla Lagos was in good spirits as his ordeal in ICE jail appeared to be nearing an end.

"He seems optimistic," Della Posta told Newsday in a phone interview. "I think that he believes that this will all be over soon, and that's what we've been telling him."

Della Posta believes the delay in Bonilla Lagos’ release was partly due to red tape.

Bonilla Lagos' detention also prompted concerns about how ICE is dealing with people who have mental health issues amid a rise in suicides in ICE jails, advocates said. Bonilla Lagos said he tried to die by suicide within hours of his arrest and three more times during his detainment, including as recently as May.

At one point he spent a week in a psychiatric hospital in Manhattan but was returned to ICE jails afterward. He said he was kept in solitary confinement for weeks at a time in ICE jails.

An ICE document reviewed by Newsday states that Bonilla Lagos, who has a history of clinical depression, was placed on suicide watch for a week in March at the ICE jail in Batavia.

Homeland Security told Newsday that ICE was giving detainees, including him, proper mental health care.

Bonilla Lagos "received ongoing medical and mental health care and was medically evaluated and cleared by physicians during his last assessment on May 8," DHS said in a statement.

"It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.

"This is the best healthcare many aliens have received in their entire lives," the agency's statement said.

Diagnosed with depression

Before his arrest, Bonilla Lagos had been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a letter his psychologist submitted to immigration authorities in November when she sought his release. He was taking medications every day before his arrest, though he did not receive them all in ICE jail, Bonilla Lagos said.

Suicides in ICE jails nationwide have jumped since January 2025, when Trump launched the deportation campaign, according to a database maintained by journalist and Atlanta-based lawyer Andrew Free. There were four reported suicides or apparent suicides in 2025 and five in the first few months of 2026, Free said.

That compares with one during President Joe Biden’s 2021-25 term, he said.

Della Posta believes Bonilla Lagos has a good chance of being granted asylum, though a hearing and, ultimately, a decision is likely months away. In the meantime, his attorney said, Bonilla Lagos will be allowed to stay with his family since he is not considered a flight risk.

"My family is my life," Bonilla Lagos told Newsday in English early Wednesday.

"We're very happy for him and his family and we have hope that he'll get to stay in the U.S. long-term because we think he's a good member of his community," Della Posta said.

"I think he does have a strong chance" to win his asylum case "because I think he's fleeing real persecution and he has a clean record and he is filing according to the law," he said.