A New York City public school student has been released from ICE detention roughly 10 months after he was grabbed following a routine court hearing.
Dylan Contreras was released from Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a federal ICE facility in Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, his family and attorneys said.
“All glory and honor belong to God, who opened doors and made the impossible possible,” Dylan’s mother, Raiza Contreras, said in a statement. “I am grateful to everyone who, in one way or another, played a part in offering support and strength, and were always there. Very soon, my son will be back with his siblings and me—it is both a relief and a blessing.”
Enrolled at Ellis Prep Academy in Marble Hill, then-20-year-old Contreras had no criminal history and was pursuing a green card after arriving from Venezuela. He was one of the first known NYC high school students taken by ICE during the beginning of the second Trump administration.
“What should have been a time for him to focus on finishing high school instead became ten long months of isolation, after he was taken into custody at what was supposed to be a routine immigration hearing last May,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday.
DHS accused Contreras of entering the United States illegally one year prior, under the Biden administration.
“Biden ignored the law and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,” DHS said.
Contreras’s lawyers argued that the young man came to the U.S. legally to seek asylum.
“Dylan did everything right, he entered legally, worked to support his family and enrolled in school, and he should have never been detained like this. I am glad the administration has heeded my calls and righted this wrong, but there are many more families like Dylan’s that have been torn apart because of ICE. The chaos experienced by so many communities and families at the hands of ICE must end,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
