Overview:
Council Member Rita Joseph joined requires the discharge of Bronx pupil Dylan Lopez Contreras, who was detained by ICE after a routine immigration listening to. New York Metropolis filed a authorized transient supporting Dylan’s launch, arguing his arrest violated due course of and threatens immigrant belief in public establishments.
Council Member Rita Joseph, chair of the New York Metropolis Council’s schooling committee, is demanding the fast launch of Dylan Lopez Contreras, a Bronx highschool pupil detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a routine immigration listening to.
Joseph joined the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) at a rally final week, denouncing Contreras’ detention as a betrayal of New York Metropolis’s sanctuary insurance policies and a harmful sign to immigrant households who depend on public companies and courts. Contreras’ detention marks the primary reported case of a New York Metropolis public faculty pupil detained by federal immigration brokers underneath the brand new administration.
“I’m outraged and deeply saddened by the detainment of Dylan,” Joseph stated in a press release. “New York Metropolis is a sanctuary metropolis. That’s not only a slogan—it’s the regulation.”
Contreras, 17, is a pupil at Ellis Preparatory Academy within the Bronx and has no prison report. He was arrested at a Manhattan courthouse on Could 21 whereas attending a scheduled immigration listening to for his asylum utility. Advocates say he was present process medical evaluations when taken into custody and {that a} federal choose not too long ago denied a request for his launch, reportedly with out reviewing his medical information.
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This week, the Metropolis of New York filed an amicus brief in assist of Contreras’ launch in Dylan Lopez Contreras v. Leonard Oddo, the warden of Moshannon Valley Processing Middle, the place Dylan is being held.
Town argues Dylan is being detained with out trigger and that his arrest undermines public security by discouraging immigrants from utilizing crucial metropolis companies. Contreras had accessed the town’s Asylum Utility Assist Middle to use for asylum, Momentary Protected Standing (TPS), and work authorization.
“Dylan was going by way of the precise authorized continuing that we encourage new arrivals to undergo,” Mayor Eric Adams stated in a press release. “As an alternative of being rewarded for following the regulation, he was punished for doing what all of us requested him to do.”
The transient states that ways like Dylan’s arrest instill concern in immigrant communities and threat “driving underground these in any other case inclined to observe the nation’s immigration legal guidelines.”
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Council Member Joseph, a former trainer who has visited almost 100 faculties since taking workplace in 2022, framed the incident as each an academic and human rights difficulty.
“The sanctuary legal guidelines of this metropolis should be revered and enforced, not ignored,” she stated, calling on Adams to behave decisively.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of NYIC, additionally criticized the detention: “Dylan deserves freedom, to not be locked in a detention middle. His arrest is one other instance of how the Trump administration’s insurance policies weaponize our immigration system towards these searching for security and a future.”
New York Metropolis Colleges Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos echoed that concern, noting that faculties should stay “protected areas for all college students,” no matter immigration standing. “Detaining him isn’t just a authorized injustice, it’s an ethical one,” she stated.
Joseph vowed continued advocacy on Dylan’s behalf. “To Dylan and to each immigrant pupil and household in our metropolis: I see you. I’ll battle for you. You aren’t alone.”
As of Friday, Dylan stays in federal custody in Pennsylvania.