A Massachusetts mother was detained by federal immigration agents in front of her three young daughters – turning a family vacation into what her husband described as a nightmare.
Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, 42, a legal permanent U.S. resident, was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on August 11 after returning from a trip to Mexico with her family.
According to her attorney, the sudden detention was tied to a decades-old marijuana possession charge – an offense that is no longer considered criminal under current Massachusetts law.
‘She was taken right in front of our girls,’ her husband, Marcel Rosa, 38, said. ‘They were crying and hugging her. I had to tell them, “We might never see your mother again in this country.”‘
Jimenez Rosa was held for 10 days in federal custody and transferred between several detention centers in Massachusetts and Maine – including one that houses only male detainees.
Her family said she was denied proper medical care for chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma and had to be hospitalized twice during her detainment.
Despite repeated inquiries from her legal team, federal agencies – including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , CBP, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office – did not respond, according to MassLive.
Jimenez Rosa’s attorney, Todd Pomerleau, said that it wasn’t until the day of her release on August 20 that ICE indirectly confirmed the reason for her detention, referencing the marijuana charge in an email.
During her detention Pomerleau successfully petitioned a judge to vacate Jimenez Rosa’s past conviction and immediately filed a motion for her release.
‘After the motion was filed … they cowered,’ Pomerleau said. ‘The ICE lawyer said something to the effect by email, “They’re going to let her out now, because clearly the marijuana charge isn’t around anymore.”‘
‘It’s like, well, thank you for letting us know in writing that was the basis for her detention, which we still have never seen,’ he added.
The charge dated back to 2003, when Jimenez Rosa was a 20-year-old college student.
She was arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana, pleaded guilty, and completed probation – and her case was sealed over a decade ago.
‘Her records were sealed for 12 years,’ Pomerleau said. ‘They [federal officers] would have had no access to these records unless somebody illegally handed them over. They never once asked me for records about the case. I had to guess that it might have been a marijuana charge because I was left in the dark for a week.’
Pomerleau called the incident ‘disturbing’ and entirely unjustified.
‘She was detained without a clear legal basis, denied medical care, and shuffled around like a criminal for a charge that’s not even prosecutable under state law today,’ he said. ‘This never should have happened.’
The ordeal has sparked outrage from state lawmakers, including Sen. Paul Feeney, who was present when Jimenez Rosa was reunited with her family in Burlington.
‘This was brutal and capricious,’ Feeney said. ‘Locking up a legally present Massachusetts mom and taking her from her young kids does not make our community safer. It instills fear and undermines the rule of law.’
Jimenez Rosa was eventually released with no phone and no transportation.
Her husband told MassLive she ended up at a Cheesecake Factory near the Burlington Mall – 30 miles from her Canton home – and borrowed a stranger’s phone to call him.
‘She was soaking wet from the rain, completely disoriented,’ Pomerleau said. ‘She was crying nonstop and barely able to speak.’
‘She reminded me of asylum seekers who have been absolutely victimized. She was constantly breaking down in tears. She was trembling. All she did was just hold on to her kids and hold on to her husband, and she just sat there and cried for 45 straight minutes. She couldn’t even function,’ he said.
The experience, the family said, has left deep emotional wounds.
‘She’s not the same,’ Marcel said. ‘She’s crying throughout the day. She needs help. We all do.’
Pomerleau vowed to continue pursuing legal accountability, saying the detention violated her constitutional rights.
‘It is a big deal when law enforcement violates the law under the guise of enforcing it,’ he said. ‘But I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States as an attorney. The rule of law needs to be respected.’
‘If it can happen to a non-citizen, Green Card holder who’s been following nearly every rule her whole life, paying taxes – it can happen to you. It can happen to anybody. And we are taking a stand.’
Since returning home to Canton, Jimenez Rosa is ‘not herself,” her husband said on Friday.
The family is now arranging psychiatric care and a full medical evaluation to address the toll the ordeal has taken on her health.
To help cover the mounting legal and medical expenses, a GoFundMe has been launched and has raised over $14,000 toward its $16,000 goal.
Daily Mail has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for comment.