Raiza Contreras, whose son Dylan has been in ICE detention since Might, attended Trump’s State of the Union as visitor of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer.
Photograph courtesy Schumer’s workplace
A Bronx mom whose 21-year-old son has spent almost 9 months in ICE detention was U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer’s visitor on the Feb. 24 State of the Union handle by President Donald Trump.
Raiza Contreras’s son, Venezuelan-born Dylan Lopez Contreras, was the primary NYC public faculty pupil to be detained in Trump’s immigration crackdown. Based on attorneys, Dylan got here to america legally, utilized for asylum, adopted all relevant legal guidelines, had no felony report, and was attending Ellis Preparatory Academy in Marble Hill.
Nonetheless, ICE brokers detained Dylan final Might after a routine courtroom listening to. He’s nonetheless held at an ICE detention facility in Pennsylvania.
In a video posted to X, Raiza Contreras thanked Schumer for the chance to talk on behalf of Dylan and the numerous households in the identical place. “I am the silenced voice of my son,” she mentioned. “For me, it’s a kidnapping. My son is doing everything right, and they didn’t care.”
Dylan entered legally, adopted the regulation, confirmed as much as his courtroom listening to—he was nonetheless detained.
Raiza, his mom and my SOTU visitor, shared the nightmare her household has endured since.
Whereas Trump lies, 1000’s of households reside with the results of ICE’s cruelty. pic.twitter.com/3sMB17JYCZ
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Schumer, together with different Democrats, has blasted the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and pushed for reforms to rein in enforcement.
Trump’s speech, which lasted almost two hours, got here amid low approval scores, with 59% disapproving of his dealing with of the financial system, based on current polling. Within the handle, Trump touted main inventory market features and lowered inflation on sure gadgets corresponding to rooster, vehicles and eggs.
However the message didn’t land with Democrats, who mentioned their get together has led the way in which on reducing the price of dwelling.
“Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no,” mentioned Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who delivered the rebuttal because the state’s first feminine governor having flipped the seat from purple to blue in November.
After the State of the Union, Schumer renamed the speech “Trump’s State of Delusion” and mentioned on MS NOW that it was “an utter failure.”
“It was a lot of hype, a lot of fluff. But when you’re having a rough time paying the bills, and you hear your President mocking you for that, you get angry,” Schumer mentioned. “He’s in such a bubble, he’s not speaking about what the American folks care about.
A lot of Democrats, together with Congress Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents elements of the Bronx and Queens, boycotted the speech fully.
Ritchie Torres attended along with his visitor Reverend John Udo-Okon, a South Bronx pastor and group advocate who runs a meals pantry that always sees group members lined up at 3 or 4 a.m. — drawing consideration to financial struggles that Trump has repeatedly dismissed.
Domestically, State Senator Luis Sepúlveda of the Bronx blasted Trump’s speech and issued a prolonged assertion calling it “a national embarrassment.”
He mentioned Trump didn’t use the event to unite the nation however as a substitute “deepened divisions, distorted facts and avoided the true priorities of the American people.”
Sepúlveda mentioned he was particularly involved about Trump’s characterization of immigrant communities as criminals, which amounted to “using fear as a political tool.”
“The American people deserve transparency, honesty and real solutions, not partisan applause lines. My commitment remains with the truth, with the dignity of our immigrant communities, and with policies that respond to the realities of working familes,” Sepúlveda mentioned.
