{"id":102677,"date":"2026-01-16T21:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102677\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:46:14","slug":"n-j-high-school-student-detained-by-ice-while-doing-laundry-released-from-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102677\/","title":{"rendered":"N.J. high school student detained by ICE while doing laundry released from custody"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"O7VM3HNVEZET7FO7MPRCKRS2Q4\">An 18-year-old Morris County high school student detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while doing laundry last weekend was ordered released from an Elizabeth detention center on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XPZPCWKDARHIZFX33ICARQ3PHI\">Juan Daniel Mendoza Sanabria, a student at Morristown High School, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/morris\/2026\/01\/ice-detains-up-to-10-in-laundromat-raid-including-nj-high-school-student.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/morris\/2026\/01\/ice-detains-up-to-10-in-laundromat-raid-including-nj-high-school-student.html\">picked up with about 10 people Sunday <\/a>when ICE agents raided a laundromat and other businesses in Morristown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"MG3D3U4BM5BWFEWMYROO5LOTCI\">ICE agents targeted the laundromat on Speedwell Avenue near Henry Street, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"5MZ7HZX56RGGPHUK22J3Q47ZA4\">On Thursday, the student\u2019s attorney filed court papers challenging the student\u2019s detention at a facility in Elizabeth without a bond hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"NFEC3GZYVZHLXETRXIN5I6G2VY\">A U.S. District Court judge determined the detention was unlawful and ordered Mendoza Sanabria\u2019s release on Thursday, court records show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"DTO6GWCL2ZACHHSQK2A6DWDZVQ\">\u201cHe is back home in Morristown,\u201d Mayor Tim Dougherty said Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"DZNZAPERINAU5DLTZCK77U6S2I\">Court records show Mendoza Sanabria came to the United States in 2024 as an unaccompanied child.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"L6DJYMIG5RATROHWSTFSUJO6WM\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/donate-to-help-mhs-student-detained-by-ice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/donate-to-help-mhs-student-detained-by-ice\">GoFundMe<\/a> established to help with his legal fight had raised more than $93,000 as of Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3HWBHP5R7VH7NGQ7DZLU6YTEAA\">\u201cThe fundraiser was created by community members who refused to stay silent as families like this are torn apart,\u201d the organizers stated. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ONK2A72MTBFVRIM2QXJ3L5YP4Q\">The student and several others were taken into custody inside the laundromat and at nearby businesses, Dougherty said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"MJ2MM6AGMBHNXGJWFLBR3DUXRI\">\u201cMorristown was not notified in advance and did not participate in or assist with this federal action,\u201d Dougherty said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"2YGLVAKB2RFV5DPTJ5EEZ3O7XA\">Dougherty, who said his administration supports the town\u2019s \u201cdiverse and immigrant communities,\u201d expressed concern about the enforcement action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VRWGXNUYSJB7JIPA2GOM6B52GM\">\u201cMorristown is a community built by generations of immigrants, and our diversity is one of our greatest strengths,\u201d Dougherty said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 18-year-old Morris County high school student detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while doing laundry&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-102677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}