On May 21, Dylan, a 20-year-old Venezuelan student at ELLIS Preparatory Academy in the Bronx was detained by ICE after attending what he and his mother Raiza believed was a routine immigration court hearing, according to Chalkbeat. 

Dylan, like so many others, walked into a horrifying trap for immigrants that marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s national crackdown on immigrants.

Inside the courthouse, federal immigration lawyers dismissed his deportation case — and with it, his pending asylum claim — after which ICE agents promptly kidnapped him moments later in the courthouse lobby. 

Dylan’s abduction is part of the Trump administration’s “expedited removals” operation — a rapid deportation process that constitutes a brutal attack on the right to due process for immigrants.

Dylan fled Venezuela alone on a treacherous journey that included being kidnapped in Mexico. Since he entered the United States last year, he has been living, studying, and working as a delivery driver in New York City to support his mother and two younger siblings. While he finished high school in Venezuela, he enrolled in ELLIS Prep, a school that serves older immigrant students, so that he could continue his education and attend college. 

According to Chalkbeat, “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.” 

This horrific zig-zagging has meant that Dylan’s lawyers have struggled to make contact with him. According to Dylan’s mother, “he has not received medical care and has spent most of the time with his hands and feet cuffed.”

ELLIS staff have been rallying in support of Dylan. We will publish any planned public actions or rallies to support him.

NYC Department of Education Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos issued a statement: “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.”

This statement is far from enough and demonstrates the DOE’s inability and unwillingness to defend its own students.

This is an outrageous attack on immigrant students and families — and on the public schools that serve them. The state is trying to send the message that no immigrant student is safe.

As rank-and-file educators, we must wholeheartedly reject that message. If you touch one of our students, we all must rise up.

The labor movement — especially the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) — has to respond decisively and urgently. The UFT and all rank-and-file educators must denounce this detention and all ICE raids on our communities. We must demand Dylan’s immediate release and demand an end to expedited removals and deportations, as well as full rights for immigrants. We urgently have to organize school-based and citywide actions in defense of immigrant students. We must demand that our union and the Department of Education refuse to cooperate with ICE and protect our school communities from surveillance, raids, and harassment.

Our students deserve the right to learn in safety and dignity. No student should have to fear deportation — whether for themselves, their family members, or their classmates.

If ICE, DHS, or the Trump administration attacks one of our students, that is an attack on all of us. Dylan is all of our student. Free Dylan now!