Updated at 1:46 p.m.
Steven Tendo, a Ugandan asylum seeker and Vermont resident who was detained by immigration agents on February 4, will be released from custody, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
Judge Joseph Laplante of the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire granted Tendo’s habeas petition at a hearing in Concord, according to Brett Stokes, one of Tendo’s attorneys.
Stokes, the director of the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law & Graduate School, said Tendo should be released later in the day.
“We are very happy that the judge ordered in Pastor Tendo’s favor, and we’re very happy he’s coming home to be in our community in Vermont,” said Chris Worth, another of Tendo’s attorneys and who argued before the judge.
Worth said about 20 people were at the courthouse to support Tendo, who was not present for the hearing. Rallies were also organized around Burlington, including outside of the University of Vermont Medical Center, where Tendo works.
Tendo has lived in Vermont since 2021 and was detained earlier this month in the parking lot outside of his second job, in Shelburne. He was immediately taken out of state and has been in detention at the Strafford County Department of Corrections in Dover, N.H.
Tendo is a pastor and a health care worker. He fled Uganda and crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. He was detained upon arriving in the U.S., and his asylum application was denied in 2019. He has been fighting his deportation since.
His detention sparked immediate protests. Vermont’s Congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) — called on the Trump administration to return Tendo to Vermont and allow him due process during his appeal.
“Pastor Tendo fled persecution and torture in Uganda and has lived peacefully in Vermont for many years as a valued member of our community,” they wrote. “People like Pastor Tendo are exactly who our asylum system is meant to protect.”
Stokes said it is not yet clear what Tendo’s release means for his immigration case overall. A full order from the judge is still pending.
“He’s being released, but he’s still in a precarious legal situation,” Stokes said.