Local soccer coach and undocumented immigrant Gerardo Nava has been released on bond from a Nevada ICE detention facility.
His attorney says he could be headed home to Park City on Friday and it could be a matter of years before the court decides about any deportation.
As we’ve reported, the 35-year-old Nava was charged last year with Identity Fraud, after about a decade in the U.S.
Last month, a hearing in Third District Court resulted in a plea agreement and a year’s probation, as his supporters in the courtroom applauded. Nava was then taken into custody to an ICE facility in Henderson, Nevada.
His attorney, Daniel Black, told KPCW that at a Thursday morning hearing, they successfully obtained a $2,500 bond. Black said Nava will probably be released sometime Friday and could be back in town later that day.
He said the bond will be paid, by family or friends, at Utah’s ICE headquarters located in West Valley.
He said the Nevada hearing was conducted remotely. Black was on speakerphone to the court, and Nava was on video from the detention facility.
Nava was set for a deportation hearing on Monday, but now that is cancelled.
Black said it could be several months before another court date is set. He said he is going to file a motion to change the venue from Las Vegas to West Valley.
When the court considers deportation, he will file what is called a “42-B Cancellation of Removal”, which will argue that Nava should be granted permanent residency.
Black said it could be a couple of years to get to that hearing, due to the backlog in immigration court. He said in some states the wait is eight or nine years.