WASHINGTON - A Mexican man brought to the US as a child who was arrested and held for more than six weeks despite being protected under an Obama-era program for immigrants has been released.

Daniel Ramirez Medina, a 24-year-old "Dreamer" living near Seattle, was ordered released on bond by a judge on Tuesday, his lawyers said.

Immigration agents detained Ramirez, who arrived in the United States when he was seven, in February even though his authorization under the so-called DACA program was still valid.

His case is one of several that have advocacy groups worried about how President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants will affect people protected under the DACA order signed by president Barack Obama in 2012.

DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, aims to ensure that immigrants who were brought to the United States as children can remain and work in the country.Some 750,000 young people, known as "Dreamers," have signed up for the program.

In the case of Ramirez, immigration agents swept into his home to pick up his father as part of a separate investigation, and later claimed that Ramirez had confessed to belonging to a street gang.Ramirez, who has no criminal record, denied the charges.-AFP