Queens teen released from ICE custody

Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old 11th grader attending Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, was released from ICE custody this week after being arrested at a routine immigration hearing last month. Photo via NYLAG

By Jacob Kaye

A Queens high school student arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in June was released from a holding facility in Texas on bond this week.

Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza, a 19-year-old 11th grader attending Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, was granted bond by a judge after his attorneys at the New York Legal Assistance Group filed a habeas corpus petition calling for the teen’s release.

The asylum seeker’s release comes more than a month after his arrest at a scheduled immigration hearing made headlines. Toaquiza was the second New York City public school student to be detained by ICE agents following a routine court hearing, a controversial practice that has drawn intense scrutiny from the city’s elected officials, advocates and immigrant communities and their allies.

“We are beyond thrilled that Derlis will soon be returning home to New York to be with his family where he belongs,” said Rebecca Rubin, a senior staff attorney for New York Legal Assistance Group's Immigrant Protection Unit and a member of Derlis' legal team. “At the same time, our happiness does not erase the fact that Derlis was unjustly detained at his immigration court hearing, torn away from his family and community, and detained in a prison with adult male strangers for over a month."

“Derlis is a wonderful son and brother to his family. Before his unlawful detention, he was excelling in his education, extracurriculars and played an active role in his church. He has been suffering greatly in detention, as has his family,” Rubin added. “Derlis was complying with his requirements, had applied for asylum with his family and was attending immigration court when he was unjustly detained.”

Toaquiza’s $20,000 bond was posted by Envision Freedom Fund, a nonprofit bail fund and criminal justice and immigration advocacy organization.

The Queens student was first detained by ICE on June 4. In the days that followed, Toaquiza was held in an overcrowded holding room inside of 26 Federal Plaza, the federal building that has served as the headquarters of ICE’s New York City operations, his attorneys said.

While in the holding area, Toaquiza was fed one meal a day, according to NYLAG. The area was so crowded, he allegedly had to sleep sitting up.

After four days of detention in New York, Toaquiza was sent to a facility in Livingston, Texas.

Earlier this month, the Adams administration filed an amicus brief on behalf of Toaquiza, arguing for his release.

In their legal filing, the administration said Homeland Security’s detainment practices have created a "culture of fear” throughout the city.

“While the city neither sets immigration policy nor decides who enters the country, it cannot effectively and responsibly govern while turning a blind eye to the many undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers who call New York City home,” the amicus brief read.

The filing also criticized ICE’s practice of “trapping” and detaining migrants at routine immigration hearings, as the agency allegedly did with Toaquiza.

Local Assemblymember Claire Valdez celebrated Toaquiza’s release in a statement on X, but stressed what she saw as the severity of the incident.

“I'm overjoyed that Derlis Snaider Chusin Toaquiza is coming home,” she said. “His release to his family is a welcome and necessary step toward justice. But it should have never come to this. His unlawful detention, like that of thousands of others, reflects a deeply disturbing pattern of violent and arbitrary immigration enforcement by the Trump regime.”