Editor’s Note: The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our print edition dated April 2-April 15, 2026. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined formerly detained Marble Hill high school student Dylan Josue Lopez Contreras, his mother, lawyers, New York Legal Assistance Group, and advocates on Thursday, March 19, in Manhattan to welcome him back to New York City following his release from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania run by the U.S. Department of Immigration, Customs & Enforcement (ICE).

 

As reported, Dylan, 20, had been imprisoned there for nearly 10 months after his highly publicized courthouse arrest outside a scheduled immigration hearing at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan last May.

At the press conference, Dylan, pale and appearing a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, shyly approached the microphone to loud applause and chants  of “Dylan! Dylan! Dylan!” Speaking in Spanish, he said in part that he wanted to thank everyone who had worked to free him from detention, describing it as “this situation that was so ugly.” He also thanked everyone who sent cards and said it wasn’t just for him but for all the other people who are still detained which he said gave them hope also.

 

“I want to thank all New York City, every single person that has stepped up, held my hand throughout all of this,” he said. “I want to thank all the advocates, I want to thank every single person who’s connected to someone who kept my name in the [inaudible]. I want to thank everyone who doesn’t forget about the people that are still in there, because as much as I’m happy that I’m free, and I’m out here, I’m still sad that there are people still there unjustly that deserve to be free as well.”

As reported, Dylan had been attending English Language Learners International Support Academy (ELLIS) in Marble Hill. He later became subject to a deportation order which was being challenged while he was held in detention. Several rallies were held over the last year, both locally in The Bronx, organized by local advocates like Northwest Bronx Indivisible and others and attended by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81), and City Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11), as well as in Manhattan, during which advocates and elected officials alike called for Dylan’s release.

 

The councilman was present at the press conference on March 19 though the assemblyman and senator were kept in Albany due to ongoing budget negotiations. The governor mentioned in passing how she had left the negotiations briefly to come down to Manhattan and after delivering her remarks, she left again to return to them.

 

Also in attendance were Shani Adess and Melissa Chua from the New York Legal Assistance Group, Murad Awawdeh of the New York Immigration Coalition, Power Malu and Candice Braun of ROCC NYC, and various others.

“Celebrate this day!” she said in part. “Embrace this young man, a man of courage, resilience. He never gave up, and his mom, who’s extraordinary, everyone who’s here today. But this day has to be replicated over and over and over until everyone is reunited with their loved ones. We are better than this as the United States of America and the great State of New York, and we must put an end to this insanity and I thank everyone who’s been part of this.”

 

Hochul continued in part, “This is a rare, bright day in the last year of torment from the Trump Administration. It’s gone on too long. Over the last 10 months, this smart young man, who has validly declared himself to be a New York Knicks fan. How can you not stand with him? The last 10 months, he should have been out there getting his education, being a delivery worker, supporting his mom and his family, but instead he was thrown away like a piece of garbage into a prison in Pennsylvania.” 

The governor said it was shameful. “But this country should be better than that, and I’m sick and tired of families that are being terrorized throughout this nation, particularly in a place like New York,” she said. “We pride ourselves on being the place that immigrants come to and build a better life. And he came here with legal documentation, crossed the border, showed up in court, following all the rules he was told to follow, and then he was snatched away.”

 

She added, “As you heard from Dylan, there’s so many others and I’m so proud of the advocates and Murad, we’ve had many conversations late at night talking about who’s still out there, and all the lawyers and the elected officials and everyone, our mayor, and Senator Schumer and electeds who have stood up. I’m grateful to them, but my God, we shouldn’t be having to do this anymore. I am grateful, hopeful, that now that the reign of terror unleashed by [U.S. Department of Homeland Security Sec.] Kristi Noem has ended, that we start seeing some sanity.”

For his part, the mayor thanked everyone, both those in the room and those beyond the press room who made Dylan’s release possible. “I want to thank the incredible advocates and legal team that worked to secure this day,” he said in part. “As much as we have spoken about Dylan, we oftentimes forget in the conversation we are speaking about a high school freshman in our city.”

 

Mamdani added, “We are speaking about a young man whose year should have been defined by that which defines so many freshman years: learning about himself, the classes that he likes, the ones that he can’t wait until the bell rings for, the friends that he makes [and] the city that he now calls his home. And instead, he was taken from the city. He was put in detention for nearly a year. And he was robbed of what should have been his. Because above all else, Dylan is a New Yorker. He belongs in New York City.” 

ADVOCATES AND FAMILY of Dylan Joshue Lopez Contreras, 20, join elected officials at a church in Manhattan on Thursday, March 19, 2026, to welcome back the Marble Hill High School student after he was released from ICE detention having been arrested during a routine  immigration hearing in Manhattan in May 2025. Video by Síle Moloney

The mayor said the city would not rest until every single person “is where they deserve to be.” The mayor continued, “We will not rest until our students can focus on school. Until our parents can focus on their lives. Until we do not have to fight for the most basic of things, like freedom, like dignity, like our rights. And I want to thank the New Yorkers who are here alongside me, because it is their hard work that ensures we remember that above all else, these should be realities in our city, in our state, and in our country.” 

 

He said he wanted Dylan to know that everyone was united in their belief that New Yorkers deserve to be in New York, and their rights are things that must be respected. “And we will say that every single day until it does not have to be said any longer because this is a city, this is a city that is proud of its heritage, it’s a city that is proud of the many immigrants who call it home, and it’s a city that is proud of a future that will have not just New Yorkers like Dylan studying in school, but New Yorkers like Dylan helping to shape the future of this place that we all call home. Thank you all so much.”

The media was also thanked, among others, for the role played in keeping Dylan’s situation in the news.

 

Watch various clips of the press conference on  our YouTube page  here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,