Clearly University student detained by ICE to be released on bond

A federal immigration judge on Thursday granted bond to Karliana Perdomo, a Cleary University student and collegiate soccer player who was detained last month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Perdomo was taken into ICE custody in late May in Wayne County’s Lincoln Park and is being held at the North Lake Correctional facility in Baldwin, Mich. She entered the U.S. through the border as an unaccompanied minor at age 16 before moving to Michigan as a high school student in 2022.

She graduated from Western International High School in Detroit with honors in 2023, before earning her associate’s degree at St. Clair County Community College and transferring to Cleary University in Howell.

On Thursday, U.S. Immigration Judge James Graulich of the Charlotte Immigration Court granted Perdomo release on a $5,000 bond. 

The Detroit Free Press reported that Graulich did so under consideration of Perdomo’s athletic contributions to the university, the fact that she graduated high school in Michigan, had no criminal record and has close family ties in state.

Perdomo’s attorney, Kevin Piecuch, did not respond to a phone call and an email seeking comment on the case and what the next steps were for Perdomo. 

Piecuch told Detroit Free Press that he didn’t know why Perdomo was even picked up by ICE agents in May, considering that she was not breaking any laws at the time and was making the most of her life in Michigan and the U.S.

Perdomo’s family and the Clearly University community has rallied behind her in the days since her detainment, advocating for her release.

A GoFundMe account to help pay for legal expenses and to post bond has reached 80% of its $20,000 goal — amounting to more than $16,000 as of Friday.