HOUSTON — U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. on Tuesday granted Elvin Moncada Carcamo's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, ordering his release after nearly five months in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility. The court concluded that the prolonged detention, "without an individualized assessment or any notice or opportunity to be heard, violates the petitioner's right to procedural due process."

Moncada Carcamo embraced his oldest daughter outside the Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, on Wednesday. "I was like 'oh my God that's him!'" his daughter Mia Moncada said of the moment she saw him walk out. "And I was so happy, but so shocked."

Moncada Carcamo was detained in December after the work truck he was riding in blew a tire and hit a guardrail as he returned home from a construction job. A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson confirmed that he remained at the crash scene when a state trooper arrived. He was booked into the Houston County jail in Crockett, Texas, on an administrative ICE warrant and later transferred to the Conroe facility.

Moncada Carcamo entered the United States in 2006. According to Moncada, he has worked and paid taxes for years, has no prior criminal record, and provided for his wife and a younger daughter who has chronic kidney failure and needs constant care. "He just wants to be a father to us, our father figure," she said.

The Board of Immigration Appeals has ruled that immigration judges lack authority to grant bond to noncitizens who entered the U.S. without inspection. That ruling mandates detention for many undocumented immigrants by designating them as "applicants for admission," even if they have been in the country for years.

"Previous to the current administration, immigration judges had the discretion to look at the specific needs of the family, as well as the lack of criminal history of the immigrant, when determining whether to release the immigrant from custody," immigration attorney Rebekah Rodriguez said. "This administration changed the rules overnight."

Rodriguez said Moncada Carcamo has a routine check-in appointment with ICE in late April and a deportation trial date next year.