What was supposed to be a quick concert getaway to Boston has turned into a high-stakes immigration battle for Maria Rosales, 32, who flew in to see Noah Kahan at Fenway Park and wound up in federal custody on her way home, according to her attorney.
Rosales, a longtime color-guard leader and dermatology clinic assistant visiting from Orlando, attended Kahan’s July 8 show at Fenway. Her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, says that when she tried to fly home on July 10, immigration officers at Logan International Airport detained her and transferred her to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Burlington. She is now fighting to stay in the region rather than be shipped out.
Pomerleau says Rosales appeared in ICE’s online detainee database and is being held in Burlington. He says Rosales, a DACA recipient with a renewal application pending since September 2023, had a removal order dating back to June 2017 that she did not know existed. He has filed a habeas corpus petition challenging her detention. U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin has issued an emergency order blocking federal officials from transferring her out of Massachusetts while the case gets sorted, and Pomerleau said another person, DJ David Ardila, was detained at Logan the same day and is listed in ICE records, as reported by The Boston Globe.
“Right now the goal is keeping her in the region and getting her out of jail,” Pomerleau said. He also urged noncitizen residents to check in with immigration attorneys before making travel plans, warning, “These are just different times,” according to The Boston Globe.
DACA Status And Travel Risks
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) offers temporary protection from removal in renewable two-year stretches and requires applicants to file Form I-821D and related documents to secure or extend that status, according to USCIS. But a pending renewal does not wipe out an existing removal order, and immigration lawyers say long processing delays can leave people exposed to enforcement even when they have already done the paperwork.
Why Burlington And Logan Matter Locally
The ICE Boston Field Office at 1000 District Avenue in Burlington serves as a key processing hub for the region and has become a recurring flashpoint over detention conditions and enforcement tactics. The site has drawn protests and arrests in recent months, and advocates and local officials have repeatedly raised alarms about holding people there and about stepped-up enforcement at Logan around major events, according to reporting by Boston.com.
The Legal Steps Ahead
Pomerleau’s habeas petition asks a federal judge to decide whether Rosales’s detention is lawful and to prevent transfers while that review plays out. A habeas corpus petition is a tool that lets a court examine the legality of a person’s detention, as explained in federal court guidance. Judge Sorokin’s emergency order is a temporary measure; from here, the case will proceed on a schedule the court sets unless the federal government seeks additional review.
Friends and fellow performers have been sending letters describing Rosales’s community work. They note that she founded Vestige Winter Guard and choreographed a routine to Noah Kahan’s song “Orbiter,” tying her artistic life directly to the concert that preceded her arrest. Local advocates are now organizing support, and Mass Deportation Defense is coordinating legal intake and resources for the case. Those seeking information or ways to help can contact the group at Mass Deportation Defense.
