ICE Detained Asylum-Seeking NJ Teen For Weeks. The High School Senior Isn’t Backing Down

TOMS RIVER, NJ — On Christmas Day, when many of her Toms River North classmates were home celebrating the holiday with their families, Naidelyn was sitting in a dorm room with her mother, awaiting deportation.

Naidelyn had come with her mother and brother to the United States in 2013 from Guatemala, seeking asylum and safety from criminal gangs who had threatened to harm her and her brother to pressure their father into doing business with them.

In late October, she and her mother and brother reported to Newark for what they thought was going to be a long-delayed asylum hearing, only to find themselves handcuffed and shipped to Delaney Hall.

On Friday afternoon, the Toms River North senior plans to share her story as a group of Toms River North students hold a protest after school against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents under the direction of the Trump administration. Thousands of immigrants have been sent to detention facilities including Delaney Hall in Newark, as the administration says it aims to get rid of violent criminals.

The peaceful demonstration, organized by the Hispanic Heritage and the Politics clubs at Toms River North, is set to be held after school on Friday in front of the high school, said Kaelyn Magee, president of the Politics Club.

"Every single one of the Hispanic Heritage Club's members has had interactions with ICE," Magee told Patch.

Allyson Olivera, president of the Hispanic Heritage Club, said students are living in fear, because even those who are citizens have been stopped and agents have demanded documents proving their U.S. citizenship.

"One student was followed all over town," even though she is a U.S. citizen, Olivera said. "They followed her father to his job and other places, demanding documentation."

Another student's younger brother has been repeatedly taunted by other children in school who have told the boy, "ICE is going to get you."

"I was born here," Olivera said. "My family came here legally." But she fears for the safety of her grandmother. "She is a U.S. citizen but she can't speak English properly. I am worried she will be detained."

"We are constantly in fear. We constantly see (ICE agents) driving around," she said.

Olivera said the experience of Naidelyn and her family is by far the worst among the students.

Six weeks after being released from Delaney Hall, Naidelyn — who asked that her last name be withheld for her safety — said she constantly looks over her shoulder.

"I no longer feel safe," she said.

Michael Citta, superintendent of the Toms River Regional School District, acknowledged the planned demonstration.

"As a district, we value our students' voices and concerns, and aim to educate them in a way that fosters dignity and respect for themselves and others," Citta said. "Our mission statement itself promises to 'develop students into lifelong learners who are socially responsible ... and ... able to adapt to the present and future challenges of a complex world.' "

"It also demands that we protect the safety of students and that they respect the safety of others. It's at this intersection where we're able to recognize and appreciate what our students are witnessing in the world around them and how it makes them feel, and to provide them an outlet to express their opinions and make their voices heard, but also in a way and within a structure that is safe, particularly on school grounds," Citta said.

"We’re able to achieve this thanks in no small part to our strong relationship with local, state, and federal law enforcement — which we wholeheartedly support — and we eagerly comply with the MOA that governs these agencies and we value their work in our communities," he said.

By the book

Naidelyn said she, her mother and her brother have never missed a check-in with immigration authorities and had been trying to get their asylum request heard for years.

They had been scheduled for a hearing in 2020, but the agent who was supposed to hear it had an emergency and the appointment was canceled, with ICE telling the family it would be rescheduled.

In October, after years of check-ins, the family was notified they had been scheduled for an ICE interview in Newark.

"My family always did everything by the book," she said.

It turned out to be a trap. When Naidelyn's mother presented the documents about their asylum request, the three were taken into custody after being told they were being sent for fingerprinting because neither Naidelyn nor her brother had fingerprints on file.

"They handcuffed my mother," she said, with chains around her waist that connected to handcuffs on her wrists. Her ankles were cuffed as well, again attached to a chain.

"Then they sat her in a chair and made her watch as her children were handcuffed," Naidelyn said.

At Delaney Hall, the conditions were terrible, she said. Each female detainee was issued a sheet, a blanket, two shirts, two pairs of pants, two bras and two pairs of panties.

Meals consisted of canned vegetables that frequently tasted rancid, and the water available tasted foul, Naidelyn said.

"We were always getting moldy bread," she said.

The female detainees were given just a few menstrual pads when they had their menstrual cycle — barely enough for a single day. If they asked for more, they would get barely enough for another day.

Showers were communal, with water that was almost scalding hot, Naidelyn said.

"There was no privacy," she said.

Detainees who were ill or needed medical attention were routinely denied care.

"They would tell us we had to submit a written request, but they would be ignored for weeks," she said. Women who were diabetic didn't receive their medication regularly, and even requests for things such as Tylenol were met with "ICE has to approve it," Naidelyn said.

The most stressful part for her mother was being separated from Naidelyn's brother, with very little contact, and from her younger children, who were at home with their father, Naidelyn said.

After weeks of waiting for anything to happen, she, her mother and her brother received word that they were finally going to have their asylum hearings. But despite sharing their story of how she and her brother were threatened by thugs targeting her family's business, the asylum agent rejected their claim.

They were faced with two options: Agree to be deported with a promise they would have the chance to apply to come into the U.S., or seek bail hearings.

Naidelyn said her brother, who holds deep faith, remained optimistic and decided to fight to stay in the U.S. and sought help from an attorney who fights deportations. Naidelyn's mother wanted to get back to her children and leaned toward accepting deportation.

That changed when it was discovered the deportation orders had not been signed by the correct people, she said.

"The agent who signed it didn't have the authority" to sign a deportation order, Naidelyn said, and the order requires a judge's signature, which their orders did not have, she said.

Released, but not free

The improperly completely deportation orders opened the door for them to be appealed, Naidelyn said her brother learned, so he appealed it.

Initially a judge had accepted the findings of the asylum agent, she said, but the judge hearing his bail request while the appeal is in process saw matters differently and not only ordered that her brother be released, he barred ICE from detaining her brother again.

On Dec. 31, he was escorted out of Delaney Hall with the clothes on his back and found his way to a phone, where he called his girlfriend to come pick him up, Naidelyn said.

A few days later, her mother had a bail hearing and she, too, was ordered released, but with an ankle monitor for ICE to track her whereabouts.

Her mother and brother were eligible to apply for a program that applies to immigrants who have been in the United States for more than 10 years and have significant ties — her mother because of the younger children, her brother because he is set to marry his girlfriend, who's a U.S. citizen.

But Naidelyn, who turned 19 in January, isn't eligible for the program, she said, so she was in a bit of limbo.

The day her mother was released, however, she learned she too was going to be released while the asylum appeal is heard. Initially she was ordered to wear an ankle monitor, but ICE learned it was not permitted to have an ankle monitor on her because she is still in school.

They track her whereabouts through an app where she has to check in daily, Naidelyn said.

She returned home Jan. 7, she said.

Naidelyn has returned to school, and she said her teachers and the advisor of the Hispanic Heritage Club have been helpful and supportive. She said she believes the key to the release of her and her brother was that they are very active in the community; both are CCD teachers in their church and they are active in many other ways.

Detention has shaken her family deeply.

"My mother blames herself for giving them our asylum paperwork," Naidelyn said. "She thinks we wouldn't have been detained if she hadn't," in part because they learned it was the agent who reviewed their asylum paperwork who reported them, allegedly in exchange for a bonus for doing so.

For Naidelyn, the experience has left her with deep fear, and she is constantly looking over her shoulder.

"I no longer feel safe," she said. "I feel like they took away my peace."

The protest is set for 1:45 p.m. in front of Toms River High School North.