A high school student was detained at a New York City courthouse as part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's new tactics to take custody of migrants.
ICE agents arrested the 20-year-old Venezuelan last week, which marked the first reported instance of federal officials apprehending a public school student in the city since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term.
Student Arrested by ICE Agents Inside Courthouse
Last week, ICE officers started to stand inside and outside immigration courts across the country to lie in wait and detain migrants who appear for immigration hearings. Immigration lawyers said that these officers targeted migrants who just had their cases dismissed by judges.
Now, government lawyers are requesting that the cases in question be dismissed so that the migrants can be placed in expedited deportation proceedings. The high school student from New York was identified as Dylan, whose last name was withheld as his family fears retaliation from the government, according to the New York Times.
Read more: 2-Year-Old Girl Held by Us Government After Parents' Deportation Finally Returned to Venezuela
ICE officers arrested Dylan while he was in the lobby of a courthouse in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday last week. New York City Mayor Eric Adams tried his best to answer questions regarding the migrant student's situation.
Adams is responsible for overseeing a school system that serves thousands of immigrant students. The lawmaker has tried to distance himself from the arrest of Dylan, arguing that it was a federal issue that was beyond his control.
Immigrants Seeking Asylum
A spokesperson for the New York Legal Assistance Group said that Dylan entered the country with permission to seek asylum. They added that the student's arrest robs him of the chance to seek that relief with full protections that are offered to him under the law, CBS News reported.
On the other hand, ICE argued that the student was an "illegal alien from Venezuela who illegally entered the U.S. more than one year ago." They added that the 20-year-old was encountered at the border under the Biden administration and subsequently released into the country.
Dylan fled his home country last year and entered the United States through a Biden-era entry program. He was later allowed to get a work permit and driver's learner permit while awaiting a court date for his pleas for asylum.
The 20-year-old then looked for part-time work to save up enough money to help his family move into their own apartment after living in a city-run homeless shelter. He enrolled in a Bronx high school despite already finishing high school in Venezuela, as per Chalkbeat.
