A 16-year-old Bronx student with special immigrant status was arrested and detained by ICE agents during a mandatory routine check-in, lawyers for the boy said in a lawsuit seeking his release Friday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities took Joel Camas, a junior at Gotham Collaborative High School, into custody Thursday at 201 Varick St. in lower Manhattan, with plans to transfer him out of New York and deport him back to his native Ecuador, according to his attorneys and sources.
“ICE’s actions of arresting a child — with legal status reserved for particularly vulnerable minors — at a routine check-in is breathtakingly cruel and a clear violation of U.S. immigration law and the Constitution,” Elizabeth Gyori, senior staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
Joel, an unaccompanied minor, was described in court documents as “E.J.C.C.” His lawyers believe he is still in custody in the Bronx.
“E.J.C.C. was doing exactly what the government asked by showing up to his ICE check in and pursuing a legal pathway to citizenship. When the Trump administration punishes children with lawful status for following the rules, it turns our justice system into a farce. With this lawsuit, this regime can’t get away with it.”
FILE – An ICE agent is pictured on June 6, 2023, in New York City. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Gyori said Joel should have been in his second-period U.S. history class. Instead, after complying with the government’s directive that he present himself for an ICE check-in, the boy was arrested and detained — despite a protective status reserved for minors who have been abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent, she said.
According to court papers filed in Manhattan federal court, the teen entered the U.S. with his mother around Dec. 4, 2022, seeking asylum from gang violence and threats to their lives in Ecuador. His mom has since “self-deported” in a bid to protect her son from further immigration enforcement, as first reported by The New York Times.
“That’s why I left him,” his mom, Elvia Chafla, told the outlet. “I didn’t know this would happen.”
While in New York, Joel was granted special immigrant juvenile status and had begun to move on with his life — until Thursday’s arrest.
Olga Fedorova/AP
Protesters shout slogans during a protest against immigration crackdown in the aftermath of a raid on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has accompanied about a half-dozen young immigrants, including Joel — either with special juvenile status or applying for it — to their check-ins. All but Joel’s appointment went without incident.
Joel was the youngest that Lander had accompanied. The two talked about the American history and gym classes Joel was missing in order to be there. Joel told the comptroller he liked soccer, pizza and tacos. Lander said the teen had transferred from a predominantly Latino program to a school with more English speakers, where he thought he could more quickly learn the language.
“His hope was to get back to class,” Lander told the Daily News.
Joel was shuttled between different buildings and floors when officials realized he was without his mom. He followed all instructions as asked, reported the comptroller, who gave Joel a pat on the back before the teen went into his interview.
“That was the last time we saw him,” said Lander, adding that Joel may be the first unaccompanied minor to be detained in New York City during President Trump’s second term.
“What Trump ran on was deporting people who have committed violent crimes or offenses, or (who are) a threat to their neighbors or communities,” Lander said. “And you’ve got this 16-year-old kid, by all accounts, a model student and studying, and showed up. Not only showed up at his check-in, but then went to a second building when they said, ‘No, we can’t take you here.’ Trying so hard to do things the right way.”
“What Trump ran on was deporting people who have committed violent crimes or offenses, or a threat to their neighbors or communities. And you’ve got this 16-year-old kid. By all accounts, a model student and studying, and showed up. Not only showed up at his check-in, but then went to a second building when they said, ‘No, we can’t take you here.’ Trying so hard to do things the right way.”
“We are very saddened to learn that a 16-year-old student has been detained by ICE. This is a student who should be at school today with his classmates,” said Nicole Brownstein, press secretary for the city’s public schools.
“Yesterday was another devastating day in New York City and we cannot let ICE continue to tear communities apart and harm New Yorkers,” Beth Baltimore, deputy director of The Door’s Legal Services Center said in a statement.
“From the courts to the streets of New York City, young New Yorkers seeking protection through our legal system are being met with threats, detention and the possibility of removal from the United States,” Baltimore said. “At The Door, we are committed to supporting and standing with New York youth and standing up to the injustices taking place in our city.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, the umbrella agency of ICE, said, “On February 28, 2024, under the Biden Administration, Joel Camas and his mother were issued final orders of removal from a federal judge. His mother self-deported to Ecuador and Camas remained in the USA alone as a minor. Fortunately, now Mr. Camas will be reunited with family.”
The lawsuit names William Joyce, as the acting director of the New York field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as a main defendant along with Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security. ICE agents have arrested hundreds of children across the state, according to the NYCLU.
William Joyce, New York City acting field office director at the Department of Homeland Security, (center) speaks on the phone as federal agents and law enforcement stand outside of 26 Federal Plaza on October 21, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)
Among them was Dylan, another high school student from the Bronx, who was arrested in May during a mandatory court date by agents who followed him out of the courtroom and into the courthouse lobby. Dylan, who is Venezuelan, remains in federal immigration detention after an immigration judge denied his asylum claim last month.
In August, a 6-year-old Queens student named Dayra was detained during a routine immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan. She and her mother were later deported to Ecuador despite public outcry, including from New York Gov. Hochul.
Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM EDT