A New Haven high school student who has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since July returned home on Tuesday.
Supporters say it’s a big win for deportation cases like his. An immigration court judge ruled last week to release Esdrás Zabaleta-Ramirez on the lowest bond amount possible — $1,500 — and the Department of Homeland Security decided not to appeal.
“That determination is a huge victory,” said Tina Colón Williams, the attorney representing Zabaleta-Ramirez. “This means that Esdrás can go back to school, can return to his life, his community, focus on what a junior in high school should be focusing on: regular problems.”
When Zabaleta-Ramirez was detained at his job at a Southington car wash in late July, his community did not let him go quietly. Even as Colón Williams struggled to communicate with the teenager, as he was moved from state to state on a fast track to deportation, his teachers wrote letters supporting his case to stay.
And his fellow members of CT Students for a Dream held press conferences at his high school campus in New Haven.
“Esdrás is a student, a son and a good member of our community,” member Melany Yunga told those gathered in late July. “He doesn't deserve to be locked up. No one does, and we will fight until he’s free.”
The 18-year-old came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor from Guatemala during the Biden administration. Classmates and teachers describe him as, first and foremost, humble. A hard worker. And a dedicated student.
At a Friday rally ahead of the student’s release, Wilbur Cross Principal Matt Smith expressed his excitement that Zabaleta-Ramirez, a junior, would get to return to the school’s international academy.
“We are an incredibly diverse place, and we are always, every day, trying to fulfill the promise of American public education, which is that if you're willing to come, no matter where you came from, no matter what you did or did not bring with you, we are here to work with you, to try to help you grow and develop,” Smith said. “These are the people that Esdrás needs to be with and that he deserves to be with.”
CT Students for a Dream, which is marking its 15th year of youth-led immigrant advocacy, is applauding the now-successful efforts to get Zabaleta-Ramirez home.
“It is a true testament of community to see what has happened here,” said Tabitha Sookdeo, the group’s executive director, after the ruling for his release. “We should all feel incredibly proud.”
