Overview

• Dylan Josue Lopez Contreras, a 20-year-old student at ELLIS Preparatory Academy, was arrested by ICE agents on May 21 after an immigration judge dismissed his asylum case at a Lower Manhattan hearing.
• Attorneys filed a federal habeas corpus petition in Western Pennsylvania arguing that Dylan entered the U.S. legally under a Biden-era humanitarian parole program and is therefore ineligible for expedited removal.
• He has been shuttled between four detention centers in Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana and New Jersey, complicating his access to counsel and delaying critical medical evaluations for severe gastrointestinal issues.
• Hundreds of students, educators and elected officials—including Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos and Rep. Nydia Velázquez—have joined rallies, walkouts and statements demanding Dylan’s release.
• Immigrant advocates warn that ICE’s use of plainclothes officers and unmarked vehicles to arrest migrants after dismissed hearings represents an unprecedented expansion of expedited removal tactics that undermine due process.