Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
A high school student from Queens was reunited with his family Friday after spending more than a month at an ICE detention facility in Texas.
The mother of Derlis Toaquiza has been waiting to see her son since June 4 when he went to an immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan but never came home.
The 19-year-old arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Friday afternoon after a 38-hour bus ride from a Livingston, Texas, jail.
A group of attorneys from the New York Legal Assistance Group scored a big win to get the Ecuadorian immigrant released on a $20,000 bond.
"We were able to argue and establish to the court satisfaction that this boy, who is a student who has no criminal record, who was attending his court hearings, is in fact not a danger to our society, nor is he a flight risk, which is obvious to all of us," said Lauren Reiff of NYLAG.
The 19-year-old, his mother, father and siblings all came to the United States in March 2024 seeking asylum from Pujili, Ecuador, due to the "harm they experienced for being indigenous members of the Ponzaleo tribe."
The family was initially detained bye ICE at the border but was allowed to enter the country and given a June 2025 court date.
"On the day that he went to immigration court to litigate his case, he was detained without any notice, without any process, and then separated from his family," said Melissa Lim Chua of NYLAG.
Toaquiza is an 11th-grade student at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, where he was awarded the Most Improved Student by his teachers.
abc7ny.com
The mother of Derlis Toaquiza has been waiting to see her son since June 4 when he went to an immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan but never came home.
The 19-year-old arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Friday afternoon after a 38-hour bus ride from a Livingston, Texas, jail.
A group of attorneys from the New York Legal Assistance Group scored a big win to get the Ecuadorian immigrant released on a $20,000 bond.
"We were able to argue and establish to the court satisfaction that this boy, who is a student who has no criminal record, who was attending his court hearings, is in fact not a danger to our society, nor is he a flight risk, which is obvious to all of us," said Lauren Reiff of NYLAG.
The 19-year-old, his mother, father and siblings all came to the United States in March 2024 seeking asylum from Pujili, Ecuador, due to the "harm they experienced for being indigenous members of the Ponzaleo tribe."
The family was initially detained bye ICE at the border but was allowed to enter the country and given a June 2025 court date.
"On the day that he went to immigration court to litigate his case, he was detained without any notice, without any process, and then separated from his family," said Melissa Lim Chua of NYLAG.
Toaquiza is an 11th-grade student at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, where he was awarded the Most Improved Student by his teachers.
Queens high school student detained by ICE returns to NYC, reunited with his family
Derlis Toaquiza is an 11th-grade student at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens where he was designated the Most Improved Student by his teachers.
abc7ny.com