NYC student detained by ICE returns home after 10 months in custody
A New York City high school student who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year and spent 10 months in custody is finally home.
Dylan Lopez Contreras, 21, was released from a Pennsylvania ICE detention center Wednesday.
Power Malu, an immigration activist, said he and a colleague made the five-hour journey to pick up Contreras, and bring him to the Bronx home of his mother and two younger siblings.
"He was like, 'I still can't believe this. This is like a dream,'" Malu said.
Contreras spoke at a press conference in New York City on Thursday, joined by his mother, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul and others.
"Thank you all for the hard work you have done to get me out of that ugly situation," Contreras said in Spanish, adding, "I really want all the people in there to be released. It's unfair what we've been through."
"Above all else, Dylan is a New Yorker," Mamdani said.
"Over the last 10 months, this smart young man, who has avowedly declared himself to be a New York Knicks fan– how can you not stand with him?" Hochul said.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Contreras "illegally entered the U.S. [from Venezuela] under the Biden administration" and "will receive full due process."
Contreras' lawyers say he entered the U.S. in April 2024 through a Biden-era entry program that allowed him to obtain a work permit. He had been working as a delivery worker to support his mom and siblings while also going to school.
Contreras is required to wear an ankle monitor, and his lawyers said his asylum application is still pending.
"This is one huge step but just the first of many," said Melissa Chua, director of the immigration unit for the nonprofit New York Legal Assistance Group.
At the time he was detained, Contreras was a freshman at Ellis Preparatory Academy in Marble Hill, a school that caters to older newcomers who want to continue studying and go to college. He is expected to return to school next week and is eager to thank his classmates and teachers for the letters they sent him.
