High School Student and Columbia University Protester, Targeted Under Trump Last Year, Finally Win Freedom From ICE Detention

Neither of them should have been detained in the first place

A pair of current and former students who were abducted by mass deportation agents in separate incidents at the start of the Trump administration and had remained detained since have finally won their freedom, including a high school student who was the first known New York City public school student to have been kidnapped by the federal government and would subsequently be forced to spend ten months in detention.

“I am incredibly grateful to everyone — from those who sent letters to those who made these beautiful banners — and to everyone who offered support,” Dylan Contreras said at a press event following his release last week. He was flanked by supporters including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had pushed the administration for his release.

“His mother, who never stopped fighting for his release, held him close,” NBC 4 New York reported.

The high schooler was thankful to be home after more than 300 days, having missed his family, friends, education, and even his 21st birthday. But top of mind for him were also the people he met while in detention, and used his microphone to urge supporters to advocate for their freedom as well. “I still have so many friends inside,” he said Thursday. “We have to continue fighting for them.”

Contreras, a student at the English Language Learners and International Support Preparatory Academy (ELLIS) in the Bronx, had been separated from his family and friends since May, when he was detained at a routine immigration court appointment despite the fact that he was following the rules, staying out of trouble, and had entered the country legally. He was subsequently sent to the abusive Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, where he expressed frustration at his confinement.

“When I realized what was happening, I felt very confused and irritated,” he told Chalkbeat in June. “They treat us like we are criminals here and the guards yell at us.” ICE also refused to deliver hundreds of letters that supporters had written for the high schooler, ultimately giving him just three of them. “Still, they lifted his spirits,” Chalkbeat noted.

“I was feeling depressed here, but it gave me a lot of hope to see that you all want the best for me,” he said at the time. “With your support I haven’t felt so alone.”

“All New York families belong together,” Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said following his release. “Nearly a year after Dylan was tricked and disappeared by ICE – and shipped to a detention center far away from his family and support system – Dylan is finally home. Dylan is a student, worker, and beloved son. Dylan is a New Yorker. Dylan, his family, and his community at ELLIS Prep high school will now get back to their lives.”

“But while this is a step towards justice,” Awawdeh continued, “Dylan will never get back the time he unjustly spent behind bars.” Nor is he totally out of the woods. While his attorney said that he “still has pending legal cases with USCIS and the immigration court” and is waiting for a decision on his Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, the administration said he “still faces removal proceedings,” according to Gothamist.

Like Contreras, Leqaa Kordia “should have never been detained in the first place,” as Amnesty International USA noted this week. Kordia, a former student visa holder who was in the process of securing legal residency in the United States, was initially detained following a pro-Gaza protest at Columbia University in 2024 but was quickly released and saw the case against her dismissed.

However, she was rearrested the very next year, when the administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched anti-First Amendment attacks that targeted demonstrators over views they simply didn’t like. Kordia would languish at Texas’ privately-operated Prairieland Detention Facility for more than a year, finally winning her freedom last week. “It was the third time that the judge had ordered her release,” The New York Times noted. “But government lawyers had appealed the judge’s earlier decisions, forcing her to remain in detention. On Monday, she was released after the government did not make another appeal.”

“Kordia walked out to cheers with a hand on her heart and a smile that said it all,” CBS News New York reported. “’I just want to say hamdullah, hamdullah, hamdullah, hamdullah,’ Kordia said, referring to the Arabic word for ‘praise be to God.’”

Kordia’s attention also went to individuals still locked away at Prairieland, which Amnesty International USA said has a documented history of human rights violations. “Her lawyers and family said her health had diminished considerably at the center, where she had lost weight and was experiencing fainting spells,” The NY Times reported. Last month, Kordia was hospitalized after experiencing seizures. But because she was still in ICE custody at the time, she was treated in a dehumanizing manner. “The entire time I was chained,” she said. “I felt like an animal.” Instead of being released to recuperate at home, she was sent back to Prairieland.

“I left behind many beautiful, courageous, innocent women and men” whose only crime was “just dreaming,” Kordia said following her release from ICE.

CBS News New York noted that among advocates who rallied to her side following her release were Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, who were similarly targeted by the federal government for exercising their First Amendment rights. Amnesty International USA also noted that members and supporters from around the country sent over 60,000 letters to the federal government in support of her release, and that the organization would continue to monitor her case. Like Contreras, Kordia still faces the risk of deportation.

But at least for this moment, “we celebrate freedom,” said Hamzah Abushaban, Kordia’s cousin. “Tomorrow we continue to fight for justice. Not only for Leqaa, but for all unjustly detained. Law and order need to be restored in this country.”