A federal judge in Portland is instructing ICE not to deport a Portland resident from Angola who is seeking asylum.

The judge gave the agency until noon Thursday to show cause for the detainment of Yanick Joao Carneiro, who works at a home improvement store in Portland.

Carneiro and his attorney are seeking his immediate release after he was detained during a routine check-in at the ICE field office in Scarborough on Tuesday.

A hearing is set for Carneiro’s asylum application in November of next year, and his attorney says Carneiro has no criminal record.

U.S. District Judge Stacey Neumann is ordering the Acting Director of U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement Boston Field Office, David Wesling, to show a cause for detaining  Carneiro.

Court records show Carneiro  entered the country without documentation in April of 2023 and was detained by the Department of Homeland Security. He was subsequently released and filed for asylum.

Carneiro has a hearing on the matter before an Immigration Judge in Chelmsford,
Massachusetts in 2027.

Court records show Carneiro lives in Portland with his wife and two small children, who are both children are United States citizens.