What We Know Concerning the NYC Scholar Detained by ICE

An individual walks previous the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) constructing at 26 Federal Plaza on Might 8, 2025, in New York Metropolis.
Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Photographs

Final week, a New York Metropolis public-school pupil was detained by federal immigration brokers at a Manhattan courthouse after attending a listening to in his asylum case. The arrest of the 20-year-old Venezuelan nationwide, recognized solely as Dylan, is believed to be the primary identified occasion of a public-school pupil being detained as a part of the Trump administration’s mass-deportation agenda. Whereas Mayor Eric Adams largely referred questions concerning the matter to the federal authorities, metropolis officers wish to reassure dad and mom within the metropolis’s immigrant communities that their youngsters will stay secure inside the college system. Right here’s what we all know concerning the creating state of affairs.

Chalkbeat first reported that Dylan, the 20-year-old pupil, arrived together with his mom for a scheduled court docket date on Might 21. His attorneys instructed the outlet that Dylan, whose full title is being withheld at his household’s request, attended the asylum listening to with out authorized illustration current and that he was rapidly arrested after a choose dismissed his case. Since being detained, Dylan has reportedly been moved between quite a few states together with New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania.

“Dylan entered the US with permission to hunt asylum, and his detention robs him of the chance to hunt that reduction with the total protections supplied to him beneath the regulation,” the New York Authorized Help Group, whose attorneys are representing him, stated in an announcement. “He works, goes to high school, has mates, and was totally complying with immigration proceedings. All this does is disrupt communities and unnecessarily put individuals in chaotic and doubtlessly dangerous conditions.”

The New York Instances studies that Dylan fled Venezuela, arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border in April 2024. He was granted entry beneath a Biden administration–period program that allowed him to use for asylum from inside the US.

Dylan attends English Language Learners and Worldwide Help Preparatory Academy or ELLIS Prep, a Bronx-based college focused towards older immigrant college students. His attorneys instructed the Instances that he has no felony report and that Dylan labored part-time as a supply driver to assist help his mom and youthful brothers.

The Division of Homeland Safety confirmed that Dylan was in its custody, describing the 20-year-old as “an unlawful alien from Venezuela who illegally entered the U.S. a couple of yr in the past.” In a social-media publish that makes use of his full title, the company stated Dylan has been positioned in “expedited removing proceedings.”

“If people have a sound credible concern declare, they are going to proceed in immigration proceedings, but when no legitimate declare is discovered, aliens can be topic to a swift deportation,” the assertion learn.

At an unrelated press convention on Tuesday, Adams stated that there was no metropolis coordination with ICE however largely deferred inquiries to the federal authorities. “We don’t know what occurred in court docket, what prompted this motion. And you must communicate to the federal authorities,” he stated. “I don’t know the way I might be any clearer. Federal authorities deal with ICE. I don’t management the borders.”

However the mayor emphasised the truth that the arrest didn’t happen inside a metropolis college and urged dad and mom to proceed sending their youngsters to class. “It didn’t occur in class. I’m telling youngsters to go to high school. Be in class,” he stated.

Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the chancellor of the town’s public faculties, stated the college neighborhood is “deeply saddened” for the coed’s household and warranted households that it’s nonetheless secure for his or her youngsters to be of their faculties.

“Whereas this incident didn’t happen on college grounds, we need to reassure our households: we’ll proceed to talk out and advocate for the security, dignity, and rights of all of our college students. Our dedication to supporting each little one and household — no matter immigration standing — has not modified. Our faculties stay secure areas and we encourage households to proceed to ship their youngsters to high school,” she stated in an announcement.

A number of candidates within the New York mayoral race weighed in on the incident after information of Dylan’s arrest broke.

“That is sick and twisted. A NYC pupil who adopted all authorized necessities, arrested due to ICE trickery and a scarcity of authorized illustration,” comptroller Brad Lander wrote on social media.

In a publish, Queens assemblymember Zohran Mamdani invoked the president and the person he’s seeking to change, writing, “Trump’s ICE is now kidnapping New York Metropolis highschool college students. That is the place Eric Adams’ silence and complicity has led us. Free Dylan now.”

Brooklyn state senator Zellnor Myrie stated in an announcement that Dylan “took all the correct authorized steps” to pursue a life in America. “Regardless of doing all the pieces by the e-book, ICE nonetheless detained him with out trigger. This strategy solely fuels concern in our communities and weakens the very public security it claims to guard,” he stated.