Latest news with #NewYorkLegalAssistanceGroup
Time of India
19-07-2025
- Time of India
'Detained without notice…': Queens student released from ICE detention
A high school student from Queens was reunited with his family Friday after spending more than a month at an ICE detention facility in Texas. The mother of Derlis Toaquiza has been waiting to see her son since June 4 when he went to an immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan but never came home. The 19-year-old arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Friday afternoon after a 38-hour bus ride from a Livingston, Texas, jail. A group of attorneys from the New York Legal Assistance Group scored a big win to get the Ecuadorian immigrant released on a $20,000 bond. Show more Show less
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYC immigration judge reopens Bronx public school student's case
NEW YORK — A New York City immigration judge has reinstated a Bronx public school student's bid for asylum after the Trump administration moved to dismiss his case and fast-track his deportation, his lawyers said Monday. Judge Olivia Cassin granted the so-called 'motion to reconsider' by Dylan — whose last name is being withheld by the Daily News at his family's request — at the end of last week because the 20-year-old asylum-seeker from Venezuela didn't have the time or information necessary to 'make an informed and knowing decision about the consequences of dismissal.' 'By reconsidering its dismissal and reopening these removal proceedings, the Court corrects its failure now,' Cassin wrote. Dylan appeared at a routine court check-in on May 21 without a lawyer. When the government dropped his case, plainclothes immigration authorities were able to arrest him at the courthouse and place him in an expedited deportation process. After reviewing an audio recording, Cassin found the answers the Trump administration gave Dylan about such a dismissal were 'imprecise and potentially misleading.' She added that Dylan should've been on the court's juvenile docket and that the dismissal was 'greatly prejudicial' to a person without a lawyer. 'We are grateful for this decision, which allows Dylan to continue his pursuit of asylum, as he should have been allowed from the beginning,' said Melissa Chua, one of Dylan's attorneys at the New York Legal Assistance Group. 'This is an important acknowledgment of what was clearly an outrageously unjust and misleading violation of due process.' Dylan is currently being held at a Pennsylvania facility, where he continues to challenge his detention and possible deportation in federal court and his passage of an interview with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on whether he has 'credible fear' of returning to his country. DHS has held that migrants like Dylan who entered the United States during the Biden administration should've been placed in expedited removal at the outset. Officials did not immediately provide an updated comment.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Protesters decrying ICE arrests taken into custody in lower Manhattan
NEW YORK — Multiple demonstrators were taken into custody Saturday afternoon during a protest against Immigration and Customs enforcement in Lower Manhattan in response to ongoing migrant arrests this week. Cops responded to outside immigration court around noon at 26 Federal Plaza where protesters were sitting in the middle of the street blocking traffic. Officers ordered the protesters to clear the roadway. Numerous protesters were taken into custody when they didn't comply and were issued summonses, cops said. Demonstrators were chanting during the protest 'No ICE! No KKK! No fascist USA' at the ICE agents. Around 17 people were taken into custody, according to ABC7. The protests come after federal agents have been rounding up migrants all week at the immigration courthouse. ICE agents also arrested migrants after they checked in at an Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office hearing on Elk St. Wednesday afternoon, according to the New York Legal Assistance group. "It's essentially a trap,' Allison Cutler, supervising attorney from New York Legal Assistance Group's Immigrant Protection Unit, told the Daily News Wednesday. 'Most of the folks who are already on ISAP tend to already have final orders of removal, so ICE would essentially … consider (it) as an easy target. So they are already checking in, they are already having appointments, most of them have ankle monitors, so they are monitoring their GPS and locations.' On Tuesday, around 16 people were detained at the Elk St. immigration check-in office, according to The City. On Friday morning, two people were pinned to the ground and arrested by ICE agents who were waiting in the hallways outside federal immigration courtrooms. Dominican Republic migrant Joaquin Rosario Espinal left a courtroom after a routine check-in around 12:35 p.m. after getting his case dismissed, when at least six federal agents waiting outside swarmed him. Two agents grabbed Rosario Espinal by his shirt collar, with one tumbling to the ground along with him. 'Stop fighting! Stop resisting! Stop resisting!' an agent yelled at him. Multiple agents then turned Rosario Espinal around, pinning him to the ground before handcuffing him. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security claimed that, during the arrest, Rosario Espinal resisted arrest and punched an officer. Another woman was arrested after allegedly assaulting an officer, too. 'Our officers are doing their jobs by removing public safety threats and enforcing our nation's immigration laws,' McLaughlin said. 'Assaulting, resisting, impeding or harassing ICE officers is against the law. Unfortunately, our ICE officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults while carrying out arrests. The violence against ICE must end.' The crackdown, dubbed Operation At Large, comes after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said recently that the administration was setting a goal of 3,000 arrests by ICE each day and that the number could go higher, according to the Associated Press. CBS reported ICE has been logging about 2,000 daily arrests this week, with a total of more than 100,000 migrants taken into custody so far during Trump's second term in office.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New diagnosis poses serious risk to NYC public school student detained by ICE, his lawyers say
NEW YORK — Bronx public school student Dylan, who was detained by federal authorities at a recent immigration hearing, received a medical diagnosis over the weekend that his lawyers believe should have required his immediate release. Worse yet, for days after learning of his diagnosis, Dylan's legal team at the New York Legal Assistance Group was unable to reach him until Monday, according to new filings in a federal court case known as a 'habeas corpus' petition, where he is challenging his detention as unlawful. Dylan, 20-year-old Venezuelan, is currently being held in Pennsylvania. At a conference Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines in Pennsylvania denied Dylan's emergency motion, though his lawyers said they were told they could refile after the court and federal government review the medical records. His broader case challenging his detention remains ongoing. 'While we are disappointed with today's decision by the judge, we remain unwavering in our determination to fight for justice, due process and to bring Dylan home as soon as humanly possible,' said a NYLAG spokesperson. Dylan had been receiving medical tests for gastrointestinal issues that could be symptoms of Crohn's disease or cancer at the time he was detained, the Daily News previously reported. His medical records and other sensitive health information were put under seal on Monday. 'It would be profoundly unfair, and irreversible, if prolonging this unlawful detention causes further and possibly very serious harm to this young man's health at an exceptionally delicate point in his medical history,' Dylan's filings continued. Immigration cases are not available to the public, and his last name is being withheld per his family's request. Separately, the city's Law Department made a motion to file an amicus brief on Monday, insisting the manner in which Dylan was arrested at a routine court hearing on May 21 could deter people from accessing the court system. 'The implications threaten to reach well beyond the immigration arena and reach the countless other matters affecting public welfare that require our residents to appear in court every day,' read the city's filing in support of Dylan. In a statement alongside the brief, Mayor Eric Adams added Dylan was going through the legal process to be allowed to work, and accessed a public center helping migrants avoid city shelters and become independent. 'But instead of being rewarded for following the law, he was punished for doing what we all asked him to do,' Adams said. DHS did not return a request for comment on Monday afternoon but last week condemned a Biden-era asylum process that allowed immigrants like Dylan to enter the country with a notice to appear before a judge. The agency claimed President Donald Trump has gone back to following the law and that the student and others in his position should have faced expedited removal from the beginning. 'If individuals have a valid credible-fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings,' officials said in a statement, 'but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.' He has since notched a win in the process when he passed DHS's credible fear interview, meaning he will not be deported immediately and can bring his case back before an immigration judge — the process he was undertaking when he was suddenly arrested. Dylan, a student at Ellis Prep High School, is pursuing a pathway to a green card. He has no criminal record. His detention has struck a chord with New York politicians and advocates, who turned out last week en masse to protest his detention and Adams' relative silence on his arrest before the amicus brief filed Monday. _____
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New diagnosis poses serious risk to NYC public school student detained by ICE, his lawyers say
NEW YORK — Bronx public school student Dylan, who was detained by federal authorities at a recent immigration hearing, received a medical diagnosis over the weekend that his lawyers believe should have required his immediate release. Worse yet, for days after learning of his diagnosis, Dylan's legal team at the New York Legal Assistance Group was unable to reach him until Monday, according to new filings in a federal court case known as a 'habeas corpus' petition, where he is challenging his detention as unlawful. Dylan, 20-year-old Venezuelan, is currently being held in Pennsylvania. At a conference Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines in Pennsylvania denied Dylan's emergency motion, though his lawyers said they were told they could refile after the court and federal government review the medical records. His broader case challenging his detention remains ongoing. 'While we are disappointed with today's decision by the judge, we remain unwavering in our determination to fight for justice, due process and to bring Dylan home as soon as humanly possible,' said a NYLAG spokesperson. Dylan had been receiving medical tests for gastrointestinal issues that could be symptoms of Crohn's disease or cancer at the time he was detained, the Daily News previously reported. His medical records and other sensitive health information were put under seal on Monday. 'It would be profoundly unfair, and irreversible, if prolonging this unlawful detention causes further and possibly very serious harm to this young man's health at an exceptionally delicate point in his medical history,' Dylan's filings continued. Immigration cases are not available to the public, and his last name is being withheld per his family's request. Separately, the city's Law Department made a motion to file an amicus brief on Monday, insisting the manner in which Dylan was arrested at a routine court hearing on May 21 could deter people from accessing the court system. 'The implications threaten to reach well beyond the immigration arena and reach the countless other matters affecting public welfare that require our residents to appear in court every day,' read the city's filing in support of Dylan. In a statement alongside the brief, Mayor Eric Adams added Dylan was going through the legal process to be allowed to work, and accessed a public center helping migrants avoid city shelters and become independent. 'But instead of being rewarded for following the law, he was punished for doing what we all asked him to do,' Adams said. DHS did not return a request for comment on Monday afternoon but last week condemned a Biden-era asylum process that allowed immigrants like Dylan to enter the country with a notice to appear before a judge. The agency claimed President Donald Trump has gone back to following the law and that the student and others in his position should have faced expedited removal from the beginning. 'If individuals have a valid credible-fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings,' officials said in a statement, 'but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.' He has since notched a win in the process when he passed DHS's credible fear interview, meaning he will not be deported immediately and can bring his case back before an immigration judge — the process he was undertaking when he was suddenly arrested. Dylan, a student at Ellis Prep High School, is pursuing a pathway to a green card. He has no criminal record. His detention has struck a chord with New York politicians and advocates, who turned out last week en masse to protest his detention and Adams' relative silence on his arrest before the amicus brief filed Monday. _____
