Advocates held a rally to demand the release of a Bronx public school student who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on May 21.

Dylan Lopez Contreras, 20, was arrested in a lower Manhattan courthouse after attending a mandatory immigration hearing.

Contreras, who is from Venezuela, is a student at Ellis Prep High School in Marble Hill.

The Department of Homeland Security says Contreras entered the country illegally in April 2024 under a Biden-era program. He has been placed in expedited removal proceedings.

"Dylan Josue Lopez Contreras is an illegal alien from Venezuela who illegally entered the U.S. more than one year ago. Under the Biden administration, he was encountered at the border and released into the country. On May 21, 2025, Contreras was arrested and placed in expedited removal proceedings,” DHS wrote in a statement.

The statement continued, “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. If individuals 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.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres, who represents the district where Contreras is a student, counters that by stating that Contreras entered legally through the Humanitarian Parole Program. That program was ended by President Donald Trump when he took office in his second term.

Since arriving in the U.S., the 20-year-old enrolled at Ellis Prep, a NYC public school for immigrant students who have recently come to the U.S. within the last year and are working to learn English.

Advocates say Contreras followed all legal procedures in an attempt to seek asylum, calling this move by the administration a “bait-and-switch tactic.”

“Dylan entered the United States with permission to seek asylum, and his detention robs him of the opportunity to seek that relief with the full protections offered to him under the law," a NYLAG spokesperson said in a statement. "He works, goes to school, has friends and was fully complying with immigration proceedings. All this does is disrupt communities and unnecessarily put people in chaotic and potentially harmful situations."

The New York Immigration Coalition is calling on the state to pass a law that would block local and state law enforcement from cooperating with ICE agents. They are also calling for a similar law to be passed on a city level.