MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) — After months of unlawful detention despite a federal court order granting her bond, Larysa Kostak has been released from the Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe.

However, her freedom remains uncertain as the federal government continues to challenge the ruling that upheld her constitutional rights, a case with wide-reaching implications for thousands of immigrants detained across Louisiana.

Kostak, a 50-year-old Ukrainian woman, has lived in Brooklyn, New York, for nearly 20 years after fleeing Ukraine in 2005 for political reasons. She became a well-known and beloved member of her community. But on June 26, during a routine court appointment for her asylum case, she was abruptly arrested by federal authorities and transported over 1,000 miles away from her home and husband to Monroe.

Kostak’s legal petition was among the first to affirm that long-term U.S. residents are entitled to argue for their release. A federal court granted her a bond hearing, determining she posed no danger or flight risk and should be released.

Despite the court’s clear ruling, Kostak remained detained for months. Though she has now been released, she faces the looming threat of re-arrest. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is currently reviewing a request to vacate her bond, which could result in her being detained again.

She’s now stuck in a limbo of fear and confusion as she could be re-arrested all over again because of the administration’s attempt to overrule the Constitution by virtue of its control over the administrative agency that reports to it: the BIA.

Nora Ahmed, Legal Director for the ACLU of Louisiana

Kostak’s situation is not unique. Carlos Raul Ventura Martinez, another ACLU of Louisiana client, lived in Maryland for 12 years with his wife and three children and has no criminal record. Like Kostak, he was arrested in Maryland and transferred to Louisiana. Although an immigration judge granted him bond, the BIA vacated the decision based on precedent that legal advocates argue violates constitutional law.

Kostak fears the same outcome could soon apply to her.

ICE officers detained Larysa at her court hearing without notice or warning, then subjected her to unnecessary and unlawful detention over a thousand miles from her home. Even though she’s now been released, she remains in legal limbo and is fearful of being re-detained for no other reason than the Trump administration thinks they can. Her story is emblematic of the Trump administration’s blatant attempts to bypass Constitutional rights and expand mandatory immigration detention—no matter the circumstances and no matter the cost.

Sarah Gillman, Director of Strategic U.S. Litigation at RFK Human Rights

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