An immigration judge on Wednesday denied bond to 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.

U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon in Terre Haute ruled last week 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.

Per Hanlon’s order, a bond hearing was held Wednesday morning before an immigration judge, who ruled that Espinoza Martinez should remain in custody pending deportation to Mexico.

His wife, Bianca Hernandez, said she and her family were disappointed by the judge’s decision.

“We were really hoping he would come home,” Hernandez said. “But we knew this was going to be a fight, and we are not going to give up.”

Hernandez, who met Espinoza Martinez when they were in high school, said she found it “absurd” that the judge chose to favor the government’s claims that Espinoza Martinez was a gang member or that he tried to put a hit on a federal agent.

“He was initially detained based on false information. Homeland Security is still labeling him as a high-ranking gang member, even though it has been proven that he has no gang ties,” she said.

As of Wednesday evening, Hernandez said she had not spoken to her husband or to the immigration lawyer representing him, Sussethe Renteria.

“We still have to see what the next step is, but I know for sure we’re going to keep fighting to prove his innocence and find a way for him to come back home,” Hernandez said.

She said she contacted Renteria through the West Side Justice Center.

Renteria did not immediately respond to Tribune requests for comment.

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 Martinez 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 Homeland Security 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 Martinez, 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 Martinez of the one count that he faced.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com