This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters

The Bronx high school student from Venezuela was trying to do everything right.

Dylan, 20, fled his home country last year and turned himself in at the U.S. border in April 2024 through a Biden-era entry program. He requested asylum and was permitted to enter the country while he awaited a court date, allowing him to obtain a work permit and driver’s learner permit, according to his lawyers and his mom, Raiza.

He ed his mom and two younger siblings in the Bronx, finding part-time work as a delivery driver to help Raiza scrape together enough money to move the family out of a city-run homeless shelter and into their own apartment.

And even though he had already finished high school in Venezuela, he enrolled in a Bronx high school that caters to older newcomers, determined to continue studying and make it to college.

So when Dylan’s mandatory court date arrived last Wednesday, he and Raiza had little hesitation about showing up in person as instructed in lower Manhattan, assuming it would be a routine check-in, according to Raiza, who asked to use only their first names for fear of retaliation from immigration authorities.

Instead, Raiza said, Dylan, who attended the court hearing without a lawyer, unwittingly relinquished his legal protections and was promptly arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents who followed him out of the courtroom and into the courthouse lobby.

Dylan’s arrest was part of a nationwide blitz. In courthouses across the country, government lawyers asked judges to dismiss cases against migrants, then immediately reopened them as “expedited removal” cases — allowing authorities to apprehend their targets on the spot and thrust them into a sped-up deportation process with fewer legal checks, according to lawyers and numerous news reports.

“It seems like a dirty game on their part,” Raiza told Chalkbeat in Spanish. “When someone appears in front of a judge, it’s because they don’t have any criminal record, they want to do the right thing. … The only thing he wants is to study.”

The arrest has sent shockwaves through ELLIS Prep, the tight-knit Bronx high school Dylan attends, and is the first known example of a current New York City public school student detained by ICE during Trump’s second istration, according to several immigration advocates and educators.

ELLIS Prep Principal Norma Vega gathered staff last Friday to tell them about Dylan. “One of our kids was taken,” she said.

Vega said she’s been heartened by the Dylan is already receiving and hopes to organize more efforts to fight for his release. “They thought he was easy pickings and [a] nobody … [but] there are a lot of people out there willing to .”

In a statement in response to a Chalkbeat inquiry and later posted to social media, schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said, “Our hearts go out to the student who was detained by ICE, and we are deeply saddened for their family. While this incident did not occur on school grounds, we want to reassure our families: we will continue to speak out and advocate for the safety, dignity, and rights of all of our students.”

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 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.

ICE did not respond to Chalkbeat’s inquiry about Dylan’s case.

A Grueling Journey Leads to More Struggle and Hope

Dylan’s family is part of a historic wave of migrants arriving in New York City in recent years. Raiza first took her two younger kids — now ages 7 and 10 — through the dangerous Darien Gap in 2023. But she couldn’t afford Dylan’s trip at the time, and he had to undertake the journey on his own a year later.

The experience was traumatic. Dylan was kidnapped in Mexico by the notorious Sinaloa cartel and held for ransom, Raiza said.

Once she secured his release, Dylan entered the country with an appointment through the CBP One App, a Biden-era program recently revoked by Trump that was meant to formalize and streamline the process of entering the country. Dylan was allowed to enter the U.S. while he awaited his first court date, and he applied — without the help of a lawyer — for asylum and for Special Immigration Juvenile Status, a type of legal protection for youth, according to his attorney at NYLAG.

Dylan’s legal status allowed him to qualify for both a work authorization and a driver’s permit, according to his mom. He was able to buy his own e-bike and work part time as a delivery driver.

Life in the U.S. wasn’t easy for his family. His mom worked multiple jobs — including selling chocolate, cleaning apartments, and assisting a carpenter — to help move her family out of the homeless shelter where they were staying in the Bronx. Then Raiza said she almost lost thousands of dollars in an apartment rental scam and only recovered some of it back after threatening to call the police.

Dylan struggled to balance work and school, at one point considering dropping out until the school and Raiza intervened, she said. And most recently, Dylan was struggling with severe bouts of illness that kept him out of school, Raiza added. Dylan was in the process of getting additional medical testing when he was detained, Raiza said.

But despite all of their struggles, Raiza was proud of the life she and her children forged in New York City.

“The only thing I want is a better future for them,” said Raiza. “Unfortunately, my country doesn’t lend itself to that.”

All three kids loved their schools. Dylan, a homebody with little interest in partying, took an active role in caring for his younger siblings as Raiza worked long hours. He picked them up from school and corrected their behavior when necessary, she said.

And Dylan, who often wears his black hair shaggy and shoulder-length, won many irers among staff and students at ELLIS for his shy but kind demeanor. One classmate recalled him freely sharing his arepas, a popular Venezuelan dish of fried cornmeal stuffed with meat or cheese. Dylan used to play Uno at lunch with a group of friends and was interested in learning the guitar in music class, his guidance counselor said.

A Court Date Turns Into Handcuffs

Normally, a court date like Dylan’s would have been relatively straightforward. But when Dylan and his mom arrived at immigration court at 290 Broadway in lower Manhattan, the government lawyers made an unusual request. They asked the judge to dismiss the deportation proceedings against Dylan, according to his mom and lawyers.

But when Dylan’s deportation proceedings were dismissed, his asylum claim was too, leaving him without legal protection and allowing the government to initiate an expedited removal.

If the family had a lawyer present, they might have been able to oppose the request to dismiss, or might have more fully understood the possible repercussions, said Dylan’s NYLAG attorneys. But Raiza said she had looked in vain for an attorney before the hearing and could not afford a private one.

After Dylan’s case was dismissed, Raiza said two men entered the courtroom and then followed her and Dylan outside and into the elevator.

“When we got out of the elevator, they said, ‘get up against the wall,’” Raiza recalled. Next to them, another girl was screaming while she was detained, recalled Raiza, who was also cuffed initially. She pleaded with the officers that Dylan had no criminal record, and told them she has young kids at home. The officers released Raiza, but took Dylan into an unmarked car, she said.

The practice of making arrests at courthouses “will cause fear and cause people to be afraid to go to hearings and to assert their right to asylum,” said Dylan’s lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his case. But missing a court date can also lead to a deportation order, she noted.

The hours after Dylan’s arrest were a blur of activity as Raiza tried in vain to get more information about Dylan’s detention. She called her son’s guidance counselor, Hedin Bernard, at ELLIS Prep, who referred her to a church that could help connect her with legal representation and case management.

Under expedited removal proceedings, which do not require a hearing with a judge, Dylan will have an interview with an asylum officer about whether he has “credible fear” of returning to Venezuela, and his answers could determine whether he has any legal basis to remain in the country. He likely won’t have access to a lawyer during the process, his attorneys said.

That means Dylan will essentially have to start the process of applying for asylum “all over again, but detained and alone,” said his attorney.

According to Raiza, Dylan has no close family left in Venezuela, and she worries that he could be imprisoned by the government if he returns. “This is what I despair about,” she said. “It’s not going to turn out well.”

Dylan’s lawyers said there are multiple reasons his detention and the attempt at expedited removal are legally dubious. There is an ongoing lawsuit challenging whether people who entered the country in the same way as Dylan can be placed in expedited removal. And his lawyers say Dylan has an hearing in his request for Special Juvenile Immigration Status.

Dylan’s detention has devastated his two elementary-age siblings, who see him as “a dad,” said Raiza.

When Raiza didn’t come home on time the day Dylan was detained, her younger kids began frantically calling. She had to break the news by phone.

“The boy started to cry desperately … they were just asking, ‘when is he going to return?’” she said. “I told them that their brother was taken by ICE, to keep up their faith in God that everything is going to be okay, and that they should pray, because God listens to kids.”

Dylan has put on a brave face during her phone calls with him, Raiza said, but she knows he’s scared.

As for Raiza, her grueling journey to the U.S. has made her fearless about most things. Except for one: “The only thing I’m scared of is something happening to my kids,” she said. “I don’t want to lose my son.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Michael at [email protected]