A high school student from the Bronx, originally from Venezuela, was doing his best to navigate a tough situation. Dylan, who is 20, left his home country last year and arrived at the U.S. border in April 2024 through a program established during the Biden administration. He applied for asylum and was allowed to enter the country while waiting for his court date, which enabled him to get a work permit and a learner’s permit for driving, as his lawyers explained.
He reunited with his mother and two younger siblings in the Bronx, taking on a part-time job as a delivery driver to help Raiza gather enough funds to move the family out of a city-run homeless shelter and into their own place. Even though he had already completed high school back in Venezuela, he decided to enroll in a Bronx high school designed for older newcomers, eager to continue his education and aim for college. So, when Dylan’s mandatory court date rolled around last Wednesday, he and Raiza felt confident about attending in person as instructed in lower Manhattan, thinking it would be just a routine check-in. Raiza, who requested to use only their first names for fear of immigration backlash, shared this perspective. However, things took a turn.
Raiza recounted that Dylan, who went to the court hearing without a lawyer, unknowingly gave up his legal protections and was quickly arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who followed him out of the courtroom and into the lobby. Dylan’s arrest was part of a larger nationwide operation. In courthouses across the country, government lawyers were asking judges to dismiss cases against migrants, only to immediately reopen them as “expedited removal” cases. This allowed authorities to detain individuals on the spot and push them into a fast-tracked deportation process with fewer legal safeguards, according to various lawyers and news reports. “It feels like a dirty game on their part,” Raiza told Chalkbeat in Spanish. “When someone stands before a judge, it’s because they have no criminal record and they want to do the right thing. … The only thing they want is to be treated fairly.”
In the five days since he was detained on May 21, Dylan, who suffers from severe stomach issues, has been shuttled between four different states — New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, according to his lawyers and mom.
The rapid moves have prevented his lawyers from making contact with him, since it usually takes several days after a transfer to set up a consultation, according to an attorney from the New York Legal Assistance Group, or NYLAG, which is representing Dylan. Raiza, who has spoken to Dylan by phone, said he has not received medical care and has spent most of the time with his hands and feet cuffed. Stay tuned for more updates.
