A federal judge in Kentucky has ordered that a Chicago-area green card holder who has been held in immigration detention for more than a year must receive a new bond hearing within seven days — and that this time the government, not the detainee, will bear the burden of proving that she should stay behind bars.
Source: ACLU of Illinois press release (Nov. 4, 2026)
The ruling, announced on November 4 by the ACLU of Illinois and the ACLU of Kentucky, concerns Beata Siemionkowicz, 57, a native and citizen of Poland who has lived continuously in the United States since 1995 — more than three decades — as a lawful permanent resident. She is a single mother of two U.S. citizen daughters and has worked for many years as a caregiver, including caring for hospice patients, according to her lawyers.
Siemionkowicz has been detained since about August 2, 2025, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took her into custody at her daughter's home. She is held at the Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky, far from her Chicago-area family, and has now spent more than 12 months in detention while her immigration case continues.
A new bond hearing must take place within seven days of the ruling. At that hearing, the government — not Siemionkowicz — bears the burden of proving that continued detention is warranted. Her lawyers had argued the government never established by clear and convincing evidence that she is a danger to the community or a flight risk.
Why she was detained
According to the ACLU, ICE arrested Siemionkowicz on the basis of two separate misdemeanor retail-theft charges from more than 15 years ago, matters that were resolved with court supervision and a conditional charge. She has not been charged with any crime in more than 15 years, and she has never been charged with or convicted of a violent crime. Her case is an example of how old, minor offences can become the stated basis for detaining a long-term green card holder under the current enforcement drive.
After her arrest, an immigration judge in the Memphis Immigration Court, Kelly Johnson, denied her request for bond in August 2025, treating her as a flight risk. Her lawyers say the burden was placed on Siemionkowicz to prove she was not a flight risk, relieving the government of demonstrating that she should be detained. At a further immigration hearing in December 2025, her petition to cancel her removal order was denied; she has appealed, and that appeal is still ongoing, separate from the detention fight.
The habeas case in Covington
On September 9, 2026, her lawyers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Covington Division — the case Siemionkowicz v. Daley, naming Campbell County Jailer James A. Daley and federal immigration officials. The petition argued that detaining her for over 12 months without the government proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that she is a danger or a flight risk violates the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. LINK nky, the Northern Kentucky news outlet, reported the filing on September 10, 2026. The petition asked the court either to order her release or to require a new custody hearing before an impartial immigration judge at which the government must justify detention and alternatives to detention must be considered.
"The court recognized that Beata's lengthy detention merits a new bond hearing with the burden on the government to demonstrate that she should still be detained," said Hirsh M. Joshi, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Illinois. "Our client is a hard-working mother, someone who has cared for hospice patients. Her detention serves no purpose other than cruelty. She deserves to be released, and this is a step in the right direction." Bethany Baxter, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Kentucky, added: "From the beginning, we have maintained that the government should bear the burden of justifying why someone should remain detained, and we are pleased the court recognized the serious constitutional concerns at stake."
Her daughters also spoke after the ruling. "My sister and I are grateful to the court," said Gabi Siemionkowicz, the younger daughter. "This ruling gives us hope that we might be able to hug our mother soon." Her older sister Claudia added: "All we want is a fair chance for our mother in the courts. We hope this is a step in getting her back to the family that loves her." The decision lands as federal judges across the country weigh how long the government may hold long-term residents while removal cases crawl forward, and who must prove what to keep them locked up.
What happens next
The immediate step is the new bond hearing, which must happen within seven days — by about November 11. If the government cannot carry its burden there, Siemionkowicz could be released on bond or conditions while her removal appeal continues; if it can, she stays at Campbell County while the appeal runs. The ruling does not end her immigration case, cancel the removal proceedings, or decide the separate appeal from the December hearing. For immigrant families in Illinois and across the Midwest — including Punjabi and other South Asian green card holders with old, minor records — the decision is a concrete reminder of two things at once: long detention can be challenged in federal court on due-process grounds, and the fight is won case by case, hearing by hearing, not by any single national ruling.