Overview
- Raiza Contreras will attend the address in Washington as Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s guest to draw attention to her son Dylan Lopez Contreras’s case.
- Dylan, 21, was taken into ICE custody in May after a routine immigration court hearing in Manhattan and has since been held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.
- He entered the U.S. in 2024 through a humanitarian parole process using the CBP One system, obtained a work permit, enrolled at ELLIS Preparatory Academy, and applied for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
- An immigration judge denied his asylum claim in September; his lawyers appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals and have filed a federal habeas petition seeking a bond hearing.
- Democratic leaders cite the case in urging limits on ICE operations at courts and schools and greater oversight, while DHS notes he was encountered at the border and says valid credible-fear claims continue through immigration proceedings.