Gay Undocumented Immigrant Released From Rikers After Acquittal:

By Monika Fabian & bull 4/28/11

A month ago, a jury found Ricardo Muñiz innocent of assaulting a 65-year-old man during a fight outside a Brooklyn bar in July 2009. The dispute began when two men harassed Muñiz and a friend of his with homophobic epithets in the bar, according to published reports.

Yet in spite being cleared of all criminal charges, it appeared as if Muñiz would remain behind bars.

During his pre-trial detention, Muñiz, 25, became ensnared in the Rikers Island Criminal Alien Program, which identifies and reports undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigrant advocacy groups Make The Road New York and the Cardozo Law Clinic collected letters to ICE on Muñiz’s behalf from coworkers and social organizations requesting his release. The advocacy proved successful and Muñiz was released two days after his acquittal, following 20 months of detention at Rikers.

Make The Road co-executive director Andrew Friedman says Muñiz’s release from his immigration hold was quite unusual, even though he was found innocent.

“The city’s own numbers show that about half the people they detain for the Feds, and help the Feds deport, actually are innocent of the charges that bring them to Rikers in the first place and have no prior record,â€