A 20-year-old Venezuelan high school student has been detained at an N.Y.C. courthouse. The student showed up for a routine immigrant court date but was instead met with ICE agents.
The student, Dylan, fled Venezuela last year and turned himself in at the U.S. border in April 2024 through a Biden-era entry program. Dylan’s last name has been withheld per his family’s request in fear of retaliation from the government. In order to migrate to the U.S., Dylan requested asylum and entered the country while he waited for his court date, which allowed him to obtain a work permit and a driver’s learner permit, according to his lawyers.
After migrating to the U.S., he joined his mom and two younger siblings in the Bronx. He worked part-time as a delivery driver to help his family make enough money to move out of a city-run homeless shelter and into an apartment.
Dylan finished high school in Venezuela but enrolled in a Bronx high school that caters to older newcomers because he was determined to make it to college.
Last week, Immigrant and Customs Enforcement officers began standing outside of immigration courts across the U.S. to detain migrants who are appearing for scheduled hearings, the New York Times reported.
What Dylan thought was a regular court check-in turned into his arrest at the hand of Immigrant and Customs Enforcement or ICE, who followed him out of the courtroom and into the courthouse lobby.
Mayor Eric Adams, who oversees a school system serving thousands of immigrants, distanced himself from Dylan’s situation and said that it was not his issue but a federal one.
“I’m interested that you all are using all this time to talk about something without my span of control,” the New York Times reported Adams’ response to reporters during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday. “I don’t handle federal enforcement policies; let’s be clear on that.”
Dylan’s arrest has garnered media attention and concerts from community members. It has sent shockwaves through ELLIS Prep, the Bronx high school that Dylan had been attending, as the first example of a current New York City public school student detained by ICE.
