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As President Donald Trump touts his accomplishments in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, one woman in the audience is meant to serve as a reminder of how his immigration policies have taken a toll on families and school communities.
Raiza Contreras, the Bronx mother whose son was the first known New York City public school student detained by immigration agents, is expected to attend the Washington, D.C. event as the guest of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York.
Raiza has fought to bring her son, Dylan Lopez Contreras, home since his arrest nearly nine months ago at his routine immigration court hearing in Manhattan. Schumer’s invitation to Dylan’s mom comes as Democrats remain in a protracted standoff with Republicans and the Trump administration about placing limits on immigration enforcement tactics.
At the time of his arrest, Dylan was a student at Ellis Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, a school serving recent immigrants that rallied to his defense. ELLIS has continued to support him however they can, as well as their other students, many of whom are grappling with their own immigration cases. Dylan was also working part time as a delivery driver to help his mother care for his two younger siblings, enabling them to move out of a city-run shelter and into their own apartment.
Dylan was trying to do everything right and follow the rules: He turned himself in at the U.S. border in April 2024 after a trek from his native Venezuela, eventually making his way to New York. He requested asylum and was permitted to enter the country under a Biden-era program revoked by Trump that was meant to formalize and streamline the process of entering the country. He legally obtained a work permit and applied for Special Immigration Juvenile Status, a type of legal protection for youth.
He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in May at a routine court date and has spent most of the time since at Pennsylvania’s Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest detention facility in the Northeast. In September, he lost his asylum case after facing a judge with a 95.8% denial rate, his lawyers said. After his lawyers appealed, Dylan remained detained at Moshannon Valley.
As his appeal remains pending, his lawyers from the New York Legal Assistance Group are also litigating a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Western District of Pennsylvania, where Dylan is being held. His lawyers claim Dylans’ detention is unconstitutional and violates immigration laws.
“He has been detained for 8.5 months and is being held in Pennsylvania, far from everyone who loves him,” Raiza, his mother, said in a statement. “All he wants is the chance to study and build a future. I am simply asking for fairness and for my son to be brought home.”
Schumer said his guest showed how ICE was “hurting families and terrorizing communities” across the country. “When someone complies with the law and appears before a judge, they should not leave in handcuffs,” he said in a statement.
Schumer and his colleagues have been calling for urgent reforms of ICE enforcement, including prohibiting agents at sensitive locations like schools and courts, banning the use of masks during enforcement, and strengthening oversight and coordination with state and local authorities. Federal immigration agents need guardrails and accountability measures to stop them from causing chaos in communities, he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, recently wrote in a letter to Republican leadership. Republicans are mixed on supporting the changes outlined, with most opposing getting rid of masks, according to reports.
Dylan’s legal team from the New York Legal Assistance Group hasn’t given up on trying to return him to his family in the Bronx.
“NYLAG is working tirelessly to get Dylan home to his mom, his siblings, and his school, but unfortunately, the federal government is fighting tooth and nail to prevent him from even having a modicum of due process,” said Kate Fetrow, associate supervising attorney in the group’s immigration protection unit.
Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.
