Haitian immigrant high schooler detained by ICE despite legal status
A 20-year-old from Haiti has been held in immigration detention for weeks, missing the end of his junior year of high school, although he is in the country legally and his father is a United States citizen.
Spring Valley High School student Alan Junior Pierre was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in early June and is being held at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey, his lawyer said.
The Haitian national, who has no criminal history, had been provided parole by ICE in January, when he sought asylum at the United States-Mexico border, his lawyer Vince Sykes told The Journal News/lohud, part of the USA TODAY Network. The status was based on humanitarian considerations and family support.
Pierre is one of a growing number of migrants who entered the United States legally, have broken no laws, but are detained by ICE after showing up at court hearings related to their immigration status.
"He applied for admission using the legal procedure that was in place," Sykes said.
He followed all the rules, but now, his lawyer said, Pierre sits in an ICE facility; he missed the last weeks of school; he cannot see his family.
In the same situation: Boy with leukemia held in detention, threatened with deportation
Finally safe, until a May 5 appointment
Haiti is so dangerous the state department has issued a "do not travel" warning for the country, saying the risk of kidnapping, crime and civil unrest is too high. Gangs exceed government control in the poorest nation in the region.
Alan Pierre appeared to finally be safe from those dangers — his parole status continues through January 2026, according to documents.
Now his family is fearful he could end up back in Haiti amid the violence there, said his father, Dutan Pierre of Nanuet, New York, near the New Jersey border.
The dad went to Newark, New Jersey, 35 miles away, to try and meet with his son, but was turned away and told to come back on a visiting day. When the father returned, he was told there were no more visitor slots open that day.
With translation help and emotional support from the Rev. Jean Claude Dorcelly of Rock Apostle Church in Spring Valley, Dutan Pierre told The Journal News/lohud that his son is a kind and smart kid. If he was sent back to Haiti, the young man would be all alone and at grave risk, Dutan Pierre added.
A routine appointment leads to detention
Dutan Pierre is a United States citizen and filed a US 1-130 "Petition for Alien Relative" application and adjustment of status on behalf of his son. That allows a relative to stay and apply for permanent residency status, commonly called a green card.
Alan Pierre could be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status because he is a full-time student and under age 21.
Despite those factors, ICE took him into custody June 3 after a routine appointment at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Application Support Center.
'He received a fingerprint application in the Bronx about four weeks ago,' his attorney, Vince Sykes said. 'He went for his fingerprint appointment and got picked up by ICE.'
Sykes also has been unable to meet with Alan Pierre, although he has now set up a video meeting.
Meanwhile, ICE officials presented paperwork to Alan Pierre to sign and voluntarily be deported, Sykes said. But, the young man didn't sign.
"This is why you want people to have counsel immediately," the lawyer said, citing the Sixth Amendment right to prompt legal representation.
Sykes said he believes there's no legal basis for ICE's actions.
"It is ironic — and deeply troubling — that his compliance with the immigration process triggered his detention," Sykes wrote in a June 24 letter to the ICE Field Office director in Newark, which was obtained by The Journal News/lohud.
How a complex system foils Alan Pierre
A quick resolution has been frustrated, Sykes said, by Alan Pierre's efforts to follow the rules.
Because Alan Pierre presented himself at the United States-Mexico border and was granted parole status by Customs and Border Patrol, ICE has jurisdiction over his case.
That means the case operates outside the federal immigration courts.
'It means the immigration judge doesn't have jurisdiction to release him on bond,' Sykes said. 'Any immigration judge would release him; he's got no criminal record. It makes absolutely no sense that he should be detained.'
Born in Nyack, stuck in Haiti: Family finally wins fight to prove woman's U.S. citizenship
Even if he was able to get a Rockland Family Court proceeding scheduled to seek special juvenile status in his father's home state, Alan Pierre wouldn't be able to show up for court because he remains detained in New Jersey.
Sykes said a habeas corpus petition could be filed in federal court — basically a last-ditch civil effort to challenge the legality of Pierre's detention. "It's very exhaustive and involved," Sykes said.
Meanwhile, there's a concern that Alan Pierre could be moved to a different facility, which would mean the judicial proceedings would have to start over with a new judge.
When asked about what could happen if Alan Pierre does get deported, Dutan Pierre became too emotional to get out more than a couple words in English.
"This is so sad," the father said in Haitian Creole. "If he does go to Haiti he would be by himself. The bandits destroyed everything."
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