Fallout after Canal Street ICE raid
FOX 5 NY’s Arthur Chi’en is live from Canal Street reporting on the fallout of yesterday’s ICE raid, where federal agents arrested nine people.
BRONX – A Bronx high school student was detained by federal immigration authorities last month after attending a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prompting the City of New York to take legal action calling for his immediate release.
What we know:
The student, identified in court filings as E.J.C.C., is a 16-year-old enrolled at Gotham Collaborative High School in the Bronx, where he has a 100% attendance record and is described by teachers as a committed, responsible student and a leader among his peers.Â
City officials say he has now missed three weeks of class since being detained on Oct. 23 following the mandatory appointment with ICE.
‘Detention should always be a last resort’
What they’re saying:
City lawyers argue that detaining a child who poses no safety or flight risk is unnecessary and harmful, both to the student and to the educational system. The filing supports E.J.C.C.’s petition for immediate release.
Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant said the Trump administration had failed to meet “the very high bar for detaining this minor student who is better served remaining in the community with his family.”
The brief argues that “detention should always be a last resort,” noting that E.J.C.C. lives with a relative chosen by his mother and poses no risk to public safety.Â
FILE – Rows of lockers in a high school. (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images)
The city maintains that keeping him in detention not only disrupts his education but undermines New York’s commitment to protecting immigrant students’ access to schooling.
“If the federal government wished to deport [E.J.C.C.] and believed his Special Immigrant Juvenile status and deferred application were no obstacle, it could have informed him that it planned to do so,” the filing states. “Instead, it chose to detain him without warning at the appointment he faithfully attended.”
NYC students detained by ICE
The City of New York has filed similar briefs in support of other public school students detained under similar circumstances, including Dylan Lopez Contreras, Jose Luis, and Derlis Snaider, who were arrested in Manhattan courthouses after attending required immigration hearings.
Local perspective:
City officials say E.J.C.C.’s case underscores the lasting harm detention can cause young people trying to continue their education while navigating the immigration process.
The Source: This report is based on information from City Hall.Â