Federal immigration agents arrested a high school student from Venezuela last week as he pursued his asylum case before a New York City judge, the latest sign of the Trump administration’s increasing strategy of apprehending migrants at courthouses and routine immigration appointments.
The 20-year-old, whose family only gave his name as Dylan, entered the U.S. under a Biden-era humanitarian parole program in 2024, his family told local media, allowing him to remain in the country legally while seeking asylum.
The Venezuelan, who attends Ellis Prep Academy, a public school serving older students learning English, appeared at a Manhattan immigration courthouse as part of the asylum process.
Thinking it would be a routine check-in, he was not accompanied by a lawyer.
In the courthouse, according to Dylan’s family and lawyers, government attorneys asked for his case to be dismissed and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents soon arrested him in the lobby, putting the Venezuelan on a path for a fast-track deportation without further hearings.
The 20-year-old, who works part-time as a delivery driver to support his family, has been in detention since May 21.
“My son is not a criminal,” his mother told The New York Times. “My fear is that he will be deported to Venezuela and arrested there or worse.”
Homeland Security officials, who have questioned the legality of the Biden-era parole program, say Dylan was in the country illegally and eligible for swift removal.
School officials and legal advocates condemned the arrest.
“Dylan entered the United States with permission to seek asylum, and his detention robs him of the opportunity to seek that relief with the full protections offered to him under the law,” Sara Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the New York Legal Assistance Group, said in a statement to Gothamist. “He works, goes to school, has friends and was fully complying with immigration proceedings. All this does is disrupt communities and unnecessarily put people in chaotic and potentially harmful situations.”
“New York City Public Schools stands firmly with our students, including our immigrant students, and our schools will always be safe spaces for them,” New York City education chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos wrote on X after the arrest.
New York City is a sanctuary jurisdiction that limits cooperation between municipal officials and federal immigration agents.
Mayor Eric Adams has pushed to alter the dynamic, including by seeking to open an immigration office inside the Rikers Island jail.
Critics have argued Adams sought to aid the Trump administration’s agenda in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping a corruption case against the mayor. He denies any quid pro quo has taken place.
Dylan’s arrest, thought to be the first of a New York City public school student by ICE agents, is the latest sign of the administration’s increasing push to arrest migrants in sensitive locations like courthouses, schools, hospitals, and houses of worship.
Other arrests in immigration courthouses have taken place in Miami, Las Vegas, and Seattle.
In January, the administration rolled back previous guidance limiting arrests in so-called “sensitive locations.”
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