Juan Francisco Méndez walks out of the ICE field office in Burlington after being released from a month-long detention. Credit: Eleonora Bianchi / The New Bedford Light BURLINGTON — A visibly exhausted Juan Francisco Méndez left the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday evening, hours after advocates posted bail for him. He kept his statements to the press brief. “The only thing I can really say right now is that I am sad,” the Guatemalan immigrant said in Spanish, moments after leaving the front door of the Department of Homeland Security ICE Field Office in Burlington, an ankle monitor newly attached to his leg. “I’m worried about the situation because I was unjustly incarcerated for more than 30 days. “My mind is blank right now,” he continued. “I just want to see my family now.” Earlier in the day, Immigration Judge Yul-mi Cho of the Chelmsford Immigration Court set a $1,500 bail for the New Bedford resident whom agents detained in a violent window-smashing arrest on April 14. DHS argued Méndez was a flight risk, but his lawyer, Ondine Gálvez Sniffen, said that was absurd as she argued for a $0 bond. “My client is not a flight risk or danger to the community,” she said in court, adding that his arrest and detention were illegal. “I don’t have the legal authority to set a $0 bond,” Cho said, arguing that the statute set $1,500 as the minimum bond. His bond was posted around noon. Adrian Ventura, executive director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, said the funds were raised from Méndez’s family as well as a community GoFundMe run by the CCT and other New Bedford organizations. “It’s difficult to see people like this,” said Ventura, who picked Méndez up from Burlington. “But we have to be strong.” Méndez still faces a charge of illegal entry into the U.S. and is slated for a master hearing in Chelmsford next Thursday before Judge Cho. 31 days in detention Méndez, who does not have a criminal record in Massachusetts, was arrested after agents smashed the window of his vehicle on Tallman Street in New Bedford on April 14. A viral video of his arrest, first published by The Light, became international news.Méndez, 29, had been seeking asylum status in the U.S. through his wife, who has been granted asylum. Méndez’s initial case was closed for a failure to prosecute by the Chelmsford court on May 8. It was later discovered that Méndez had been assigned multiple alien registration numbers for his case — meaning that the number in Immigration Judge Donald Ostrom and Sniffin’s records was different from that of ICE. Juan Francisco Méndez hugs Adrián Ventura, director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores in New Bedford, as he walks out of the ICE field office in Burlington. Credit: Eleonora Bianchi / The New Bedford Light “This is a first for me,” Sniffin said, at the time. “And I think they are going to have to keep doing this because they keep making mistakes.” Efforts to secure Méndez’s release also included an emergency motion for release filed May 8 by Ryan Sullivan, a lawyer representing Méndez in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire — whose jurisdiction includes Strafford County Corrections in Dover, N.H., where he was being held. Judge Joseph N. LaPlante denied the motion last Friday. Nonetheless, Méndez had only one thing on his mind as he entered Ventura’s car in Burlington at 5:18 p.m. “I’m happy, ‘cause soon, I will finally be with my family.” Kevin G. Andrade can be reached at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org