Bronx public school student Dylan, who was detained by federal authorities at a recent immigration hearing, received a medical diagnosis over the weekend that his lawyers say demand his immediate release.
Worse yet, since learning this new information, Dylan’s legal team has been unable to reach him. Dylan is believed to be in Pennsylvania, leaving the 20-year-old Venezuelan student in the dark about his health, according to new filings Monday in his habeas case.
“Counsel have been unable to contact Dylan to confer with him about this critical medical development,” read the court documents. “In other words, while Dylan’s counsel know his medical diagnosis and the serious risk he faces, but Dylan does not.”
Dylan had been receiving medical tests for possible Crohn’s disease or cancer at the time he was detained, the Daily News previously reported.
“It would be profoundly unfair, and irreversible, if prolonging this unlawful detention causes further and possibly very serious harm to this young man’s health at an exceptionally delicate point in his medical history,” the documents continued.
Dylan’s lawyers were expected to confer with U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines at 3pm.
Separately, the city’s Law Department made a motion to file an amicus brief on Monday, saying the manner in which Dylan was arrested on May 21 posed a risk to the general welfare of New York City.
“The tactics employed in Dylan’s case — using his appearance at court for a routine immigration hearing as an opportunity to detain him — threatens to deter people from accessing the court system on which local governance depends. The implications threaten to reach well beyond the immigration arena and reach the countless other matters affecting public welfare that require our residents to appear in court every day,” the city said.
DHS last week condemned a Biden-era asylum process that allowed immigrants like Dylan to enter the country with a notice to appear before a judge. The agency claimed President Trump has gone back to following the law and that the student and others in his position should have faced expedited removal from the beginning.
“If individuals have a valid credible-fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings,” officials said in a statement, “but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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