Judge says Chicago man acquitted in Bovino murder-for-hire plot being unlawfully detained

Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune on Feb 7, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A federal judge in Indiana has ruled immigration officials are unlawfully detaining a Chicago man acquitted last month of charges he offered money for the killing of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.

Juan Espinoza Martinez, who has lived in Chicago for decades but is not a U.S. citizen, was taken into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and transferred to a jail in Clay County, Indiana, on Jan. 23, a day after a federal jury found him not guilty of murder-for-hire.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon in Terre Haute ruled that Espinoza Martinez was unlawfully denied a bond hearing, where a judge would assess factors such as risk of flight and danger to the community in deciding whether he should be released pending his immigration proceedings.

Hanlon, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2018, ordered that a bond hearing be held for Espinoza Martinez by 5 p.m. Wednesday, court records show.

If no hearing is afforded, authorities must “release him from custody, under reasonable conditions of supervision,” and provide proof of it to the court, Hanlon ordered.

Espinoza Martinez, 37, was charged in October with offering money in text messages to a government informant for the kidnapping and killing of Bovino, the controversial public face of Operation Midway Blitz and other aggressive immigration enforcement operations by the Trump administration in cities around the country.

When Espinoza Martínez was first arrested, he was labeled by the Department of Homeland Security as a high-ranking member of the Latin Kings street gang, someone who had the power to pay other gang members to commit murder of a top government official.

But those claims, repeated incessantly by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other top Trump administration officials, dissolved in court, where no evidence was ever brought forth that he was in a gang, let alone a ranking member.

In fact, Espinoza Martínez, a married father of three, had a steady job, no gang tattoos, and no criminal history whatsoever, according to evidence at trial.

After a lightning-fast trial, the jury of six men and six women deliberated for about three hours before acquitting Espinoza Martínez of the one count that he faced.

After the verdict, Espinoza Martinez’s wife, Bianca Hernandez, told the Tribune the past 3 1/2 months have already taken a heavy emotional toll on the family. Now, with her husband facing possible deportation, Hernandez is currently the sole provider for the household, taking on caregiving and catering work to make ends meet.

In court filings arguing for his release, Espinoza Martinez’s immigration attorneys wrote “every day that Juan is detained and away” from his wife and three children, ages 14, 12, and 3, “is a continuing violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.”

“Juan should be able to be with his wife and kids and out of detention while he contests his removal proceedings through the ordinary process before an immigration judge,” the filing on Thursday stated.

Department of Justice attorneys said, however, Espinoza Martinez, whose DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) status expired in 2021, had “no valid argument that he is not subject to removal.”

“For more than a century, this country’s immigration laws have authorized immigration officials to charge noncitizens as removable from the country, arrest those subject to removal, and detain them pending removal proceedings,” prosecutors wrote in their brief.

Espinoza Martinez’s removal case is set to go before an immigration judge on Thursday, according to the DOJ.

_____