ICE releases New Jersey mom who is the key witness in her own attempted murder case

The undocumented New Jersey mom who was almost deported after a vicious alleged attack by her knife-wielding ex-boyfriend has been released from federal custody, The Jersey Vindicator has learned.  

Cesy Ramos, a 51-year-old mother of two originally from Honduras, was seized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on April 5 after an unrelated court hearing. Advocates feared she’d be booted out of the country before she could testify at her would-be killer’s trial.  

But an ICE rep confirmed that Ramos was released April 21 from the Elizabeth Detention Center on an order of supervision — just three days after The Jersey Vindicator’s report.  

The rep would not elaborate on why the agency released Ramos, or if it’s abandoned its push to deport her even though she’s been illegally living in the United States for the past two decades.

Instead, the rep said the agency “makes enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis, considering the totality of circumstances to focus on the greatest threats to homeland security.”

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Whatever the reason, it means Ramos, of Elizabeth, will remain free as long as she complies with the terms of her release, including attending court hearings and following the program’s requirements.  

It’s another sharp twist in Ramos’ heartbreaking story, which detonated when her ex-boyfriend, 42-year-old Cristian Castro-Rosa, allegedly stabbed her in the neck four times during a brutal assault the night of Jan. 31, 2024, according to a police complaint. 

Local cops found her lying in a pool of blood at Castro-Rosa’s South Park Street home in Elizabeth — and she told them her beau left her that way.  

“The victim spontaneously uttered, ‘Christian Castro, made me this,’” police wrote in their affidavit. 

Two witnesses told officers Castro-Rosa stabbed Ramos over and over after an argument about money, then knifed himself in the neck before telling cops Ramos attacked him.  

Authorities arrested Castro-Rosa and brought Ramos to a local hospital, where she was treated for four puncture wounds in her neck, arrest documents said. 

Cops charged her alleged attacker with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault and other crimes. 

But things got worse for Ramos in the months after the attack.  

Her estranged husband, who had filed a temporary restraining order against her for reasons that remain unclear, reported her to authorities on April 4 for allegedly walking through a local park near his home, according to Maritza Darch-Escuderos, a Department of Justice-accredited representative who works with the social justice organization American Friends Service Committee.  

Cops arrested Ramos outside a nearby beauty salon and charged her with violating the restraining order, trespassing, and theft.  

After her hearing, federal agents detained her because of a 2005 self-deportation order that she initially obeyed before illegally returning to the country later that year, Darch-Escuderos said after the arrest.  

Ramos’s arrest left advocates and local authorities paranoid that the feds would deport her before she could testify against Castro-Rosa, torpedoing the case and letting her alleged attacker walk.  

“[The Union County] prosecutor … has related that she is crucial to the prosecution of the defendant,” Steven Sacco, a supervising attorney with the American Friends Service Committee, added. 

At the time, an ICE rep said Ramos is being “detained in [Elizabeth] pending removal from the United States, and ICE is currently reviewing her case.”  

The Union County Prosecutor’s Office even issued Ramos a certification for a U visa, or a document noting that a victim has been helpful in the investigation or prosecution of a crime, Darch-Escuderos said.  

If the feds grant Ramos the visa, she’ll be able to stay in-country while helping the police — and possibly obtain lawful permanent resident status, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s website. 

But Darch-Escuderos said in a Monday email that neither she nor Sacco were representing Ramos any longer, and she had no update on her situation.  

The prosecutor’s office declined to comment because Ramos’ case is an “open criminal matter currently pending before the court.” 

Castro-Rosa is slated to appear in Union County Superior Court today, June 9, the office added.