Updated October 8, 2026 at 3:11 PM EDT
A 21-year-old Provincetown student and employee of the local police department who is an immigrant was released Thursday after being held at Logan Airport's Terminal E for 44 hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Carlos Maldonado Valle was flying home on a domestic flight from a vacation in Puerto Rico when another passenger suffered a medical emergency, forcing the flight to divert to Bermuda. That made the flight an international flight, and passengers landed at Logan's Terminal E.
"I had to go through customs, and they saw my ID. They asked me if I was a United States citizen," recounted Maldonado Valle to GBH News shortly after his release on Thursday afternoon. "I said no. They asked me where I was from. I said I was from Honduras. And then they proceeded to detain me. They brought me downstairs. They started asking questions. And then they put me in a cell and they told me that I was going to go back home, which is Honduras."
Maldonado said he doesn't have a lot of family in Honduras, a country he left when he was 10. He was anxious about never seeing his mother again. "The moment they said that I was going to go back to Honduras, my heart dropped and I couldn't breathe and I had a panic attack and they didn't care," he said. His phone and identification were taken, he said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately reply to questions from GBH News.
Maldonado Valle was placed alone in a cell alone, and says he asked repeatedly for a shower, eventually getting one. He only ate snack food. He had constant panic attacks throughout the experience. There were three other people in other cells. he said.
Maldonado Valle had been in a secondary screening area at Logan Airport since approximately 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, without the ability to communicate with his mother or legal counsel, according to an emergency habeas corpus petition filed Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick issued an emergency order prohibiting federal authorities from removing him from the U.S. or transferring him outside Massachusetts for at least 72 hours after the order was docketed. This allows for another judge to be assigned to assess the petition. That habeas petition has effectively ended since his release, according to his attorney, Rachel Self.
She didn't know he was being released until a few minutes before, and took an Uber to the airport.
"I approached him and told him who I was, and he wrapped his arms around me, started crying, and just was very grateful to be out," said Self.
Maldonado Valle had to pay $1,020.00 for release to be paroled into the country. With a special immigrant juvenile visa, you need a special permission and form to leave the country. Maldonado Valle was going to Puerto Rico, a US territory, and had no plans to leave the country. The emergency landing in Bermuda was unpredictable. Being paroled back into the country was the only way he could have left the terminal.
Maldonado Valle is a graduate of Cape Cod Regional Technical High School and a student at Cape Cod Community College, where he is pursuing a criminal justice degree. He works part-time and has volunteered with the Provincetown Police Department, where he hopes to become a full-time police officer. The Department has shared his work on Facebook in years past.
Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse and Police Chief Gregory Hennick both submitted letters supporting his immediate release.
In an interview with GBH News, Hennick described how Valle Maldonado's work performance "truly shined" during Winter Storm Hernando in February 2026 as he worked in an emergency shelter for impacted residents. He was stunned to hear he was being held at Logan Airport.
"I was shocked and scared for him. You hear things on the news about situations like this, and Sometimes they don't go so well. So we as a department wanted to be as supportive as possible," he said.
Maldonado Valle was born in Honduras and came to the U.S. with his mother. He has a Special Immigration Juvenile visa that was approved Oct. 1. Such visas are for certain young people who need immigration protection because they have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by one or both of their parents. It isn't an immigration status, but rather a protection.
He is now able to pursue a green card. Self says he has no criminal background. GBH News couldn't find any criminal involvement in his past.
"Just as the door finally opens to the future you've worked so hard for, you find yourself detained because a stranger on your airplane needed emergency medical care. Carlos didn't choose to travel internationally. He didn't create this situation. He was simply trying to get home," said Self.
Maldonado Valle said he's eager to get home.
"I'm planning on thanking everybody because I know my whole town was very supportive and was there for me while doing this difficult situation," he said. "So I'm planning on thanking every single person."
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