Queens high school student detained by ICE reunited with his family in NYC
Derlis Chusin spent more than a month in ICE detention, and was reunited with his family Friday when he arrived back in New York at the Port Authority.
"He was in a detention facility as a teenager with adults in his bunk. He had limited food options, limited access to us. It's essentially being in prison," NYLAG attorney Lauren Rave said.
Chusin came to the U.S. from Ecuador last year and was finishing the 11th grade in June when he was taken into custody by federal immigration agents at his asylum hearing in a Manhattan immigration court.
"Derlis, like many people, were allowed into the United States legally to seek asylum," attorney Melissa Chua said. "And on the day he went to immigration court to litigate his case, he was detained without any notice, without any process and then separated from his family and moved."
The Trump administration has been routinely arresting immigrants at their court hearing since this spring.
The same thing happened to another New York student named Dylan, who has been in ICE custody since May.
"Derlis Chusin Toaquiza, an illegal alien from Ecuador, was arrested by ICE on June 4, 2025. He entered the country illegally under the previous administration in March of 2024.Secretary Noem is reversing Biden's catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. This Administration is once again implementing the rule of law. Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals. Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been," a senior Department of Homeland Security official said. "If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation."
Chusin was released on $20,000 bond from a Texas detention facility. His attorney say his is now able to continue his asylum case in the courts, while living with his family and going to school.
"We were able to argue to the court's satisfaction that this boy who is a student who has no criminal record who was attending his court hearing, is in fact not a danger to society, nor is he a flight risk," Rave said.
Michelle Koenig is Chusin's English teacher at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens.
"He's such a loving, kind and hardworking kid," Koenig said. "He's the kind of kid that's always smiling. And to think about him being taken like that was, truly, the whole community was devastated."
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