茄子视频

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Dylan Lopez Contreras sat waiting for a copy of his class schedule in a sunny fourth-floor room of his Bronx high school as his counselor walked in wearing a 鈥淔ree Dylan鈥� button attached to the strap of his messenger bag.

Dylan stood, and Hedin Bernard lifted Dylan鈥檚 more-than-6-foot frame off the floor in a tight bear hug.

It had been more than 10 months since Dylan set foot in ELLIS Preparatory Academy, a high school geared toward older, newly arrived immigrant students. The last time the two had seen each other, Dylan鈥檚 hair was dyed purple and just covered his ears. Now, it fell below the 21-year-old鈥檚 shoulders and the purple dye had faded to yellow.

Last May, in a Manhattan courthouse after his asylum hearing, making him the first known New York City public school student detained during President Donald Trump鈥檚 second term. The Venezuelan native became the public face of an , remaining in custody until .

After Dylan鈥檚 arrest, his mom Raiza鈥檚 . Ever since then, Bernard has, along with ELLIS founding Principal Norma Vega, led the school鈥檚 efforts to rally behind Dylan, which included helping to put Raiza in touch with lawyers and advocates, organizing a student letter-writing campaign, and supporting a fundraiser for the family. With Dylan鈥檚 return to ELLIS, they hope he can focus on 鈥渨hat will happen, not what did happen,鈥� Vega said.

But the jubilation of Dylan鈥檚 return has been mixed with frequent reminders of the looming threat of immigration enforcement facing him and other ELLIS students.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, released Dylan while he awaits a decision on an appeal in his . An immigration judge , and the appeals process could take years, according to his lawyers from the New York Legal Assistance Group. But ICE has the ability to take him back into custody at any time and requires regular check-ins, his lawyers said.

Shortly after Bernard reunited with Dylan Tuesday morning, as Dylan scarfed down a donut and drank coffee poured from Bernard鈥檚 thermos, the counselor invited him to join a college trip that week.

ELLIS staffers believe that is the surest path out of poverty. The trip would visit three colleges in upstate New York.

Dylan glanced down at his leg, where a black ankle monitor had been attached as a condition of his release. With his travel restrictions, Dylan knew he likely couldn鈥檛 attend.

But that didn鈥檛 slow down the ELLIS staffers for long. Later that morning, Bernard asked a colleague to invite college representatives to ELLIS, so Dylan wouldn鈥檛 have to leave school to meet them.

Dylan鈥檚 detention still lingers

The swiftness of the changes over the past two weeks has been hard for Dylan to comprehend.

After months in Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a Western Pennsylvania detention facility, Dylan had , flanked by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, thanking his supporters in Spanish from under the blue brim of a New York Knicks hat.

He had been sleeping on a thin cot in a cell with more than 70 men. Now he was in his own bed, cuddled with his younger siblings, ages 8 and 10, who had asked to sleep next to him. And after losing about 30 pounds in detention because he often couldn鈥檛 stomach the food, Dylan had a phalanx of adults at ELLIS showering him with .

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big contrast, to go through so much mistreatment, and then come back to people who love and support you,鈥� he said in Spanish.

Still, his thoughts drift back to a friend in detention nicknamed 鈥淓l Mayor,鈥� or the elder, who has already called Dylan to let him know how happy he was to hear about his release and to ask if he could use his public profile to advocate for the release of others. (Dylan did exactly that at his press conference.) As long as those men remain in detention, Moshannon Valley is 鈥渘ot going to feel very far away,鈥� he said.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied that there were any problems with the conditions at Moshannon. 鈥淎ll detainees are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,鈥� the spokesperson said. 鈥淚n fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.鈥�

ELLIS staffers said reintegrating Dylan into school will mean helping him catch up on all he missed over the past 10 months while also processing the ongoing trauma of his detention.

While Dylan was incarcerated, his classmates ., prepared for or taken Regents exams they needed for graduation, and kept up with the guitar lessons Dylan enjoyed before his arrest.

Letters from his classmates helped sustain him as his detention stretched from days to months, and his optimism for a quick release faded. He watched new detainees 鈥� including grandparents and young kids 鈥� come and go while he remained locked up.

Dylan had no formal education in detention. But he was determined to do what he could to keep up with his English.

He practiced speaking with cellmates from places like China and the United Kingdom and to advocate for better treatment from the guards.

He devoured manga and Marvel comics donated by the advocacy group ROCC NYC, which played a critical role in supporting his family and keeping public attention on his case. He scoured an English dictionary from the facility鈥檚 library to learn new vocabulary but had no one to check his pronunciation. And he tried to read some classics, such as Mary Shelley鈥檚 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� and 鈥淐hronicle of a Death Foretold鈥� by Colombian author Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez.

When he returned to ELLIS last week, Vega stopped him in the hallway to hand him a gift from a staffer in her district office: a copy of Dante鈥檚 鈥淒ivine Comedy,鈥� another classic Dylan had asked to read but couldn鈥檛 get a copy of.

Dylan, who had fled Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro鈥檚 repressive regime, had been , and spent 10 months in ICE custody, had said he wanted to understand Dante鈥檚 nine circles of hell.

ELLIS gears up to help Dylan adjust

Staffers at ELLIS are accustomed to helping students navigate all kinds of trauma, but they鈥檇 never had a student return from long-term incarceration, Bernard said.

Dylan鈥檚 counselors at ELLIS plan to refer him to a Spanish-speaking therapist through a mental health clinic located on the first floor of ELLIS鈥� building, Bernard said. And staffers will watch for any signs that he is struggling.

They鈥檙e also hoping to give Dylan chances to enjoy himself outside academic courses, though his ankle monitor is complicating those plans. His counselor enrolled Dylan in a swim class, but Dylan worried about getting the device wet.

Schools in New York are required to continue enrolling students through age 21, but state law doesn鈥檛 stop them from staying longer if the school agrees, Vega said.

ELLIS staffers don鈥檛 want to keep Dylan in high school longer than necessary but are encouraging him to stay for two years, so he can master English before applying to college.

In the meantime, he is eager to earn money to help his mom and siblings with rent. He hopes to take a bartending course so he can work at night without interfering with his school schedule.

Dylan worked long hours as a delivery driver before his arrest, and Bernard remains concerned about how long he鈥檒l want to stay in school.

Staffers at ELLIS are working on finding him an internship that allows him to make money while learning new skills and burnishing his college resume.

Dylan said he鈥檚 willing to stay at ELLIS 鈥渁s long as it takes.鈥�

Dylan and ELLIS face an uncertain future

Dylan鈥檚 arrest, and the aggressive escalation in immigration enforcement it represented, cast a long shadow over ELLIS over the past 10 months, .

Students had begun to talk more openly about self-deportation. Pressure to abandon school for work grew as students confronted their diminished prospects for building a future in the U.S. And ELLIS鈥� enrollment, like that at immigrant-heavy schools across the city, has declined as border crossings slowed to a trickle.

Many of the ELLIS students who greeted Dylan Tuesday with tearful hugs and exclamations like 鈥渂ienvenidos, loco!鈥� (welcome back, crazy!) had endured their own brushes with immigration enforcement.

Dylan saw a friend whose mother was deported while he was in detention, leaving her without a way to pay rent or look after her toddler during school hours. Dylan鈥檚 is considering returning to Ecuador in part because of the fear of ICE. Another student saw Dylan鈥檚 ankle monitor and asked a staff member what the device did, adding that her dad had one too, Bernard said.

And when Dylan greeted two fellow Venezuelan students, one asked if he鈥檇 had to sleep on the floor 鈥� noting that鈥檚 where he鈥檇 slept after being detained while crossing the border. 鈥淚 know the floor,鈥� Dylan responded with a wry smile.

During lunch time, Dylan settled into a booth with friends and munched on mozzarella sticks. He had a newfound appreciation for school cafeteria food.

His friendships were what Dylan missed most about ELLIS, and there was lots to catch up on. The conversation soon turned to an ordinary high school concern: Dylan had to figure out what color to dye his hair next.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

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