ICE Moves High School Senior and Mom Out of NY

OSSINING, NY — Diego Puma Macancela and his mother have been moved out of New York by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Members of the Ossining community have been fighting the deportation order for the Ossining High School senior and his mother. Advocates said Tuesday the two have been moved to separate detention centers in Louisiana.

Government officials in Ecuador have said the 19-year-old picked up by immigration on the day of his prom had no involvement in gang activity in Ecuador.

A second stay of removal has been filed by his attorneys because the high school senior was trying to flee from those gangs.

ICE had denied the first request to stay his deportation because they said he was involved with gangs.

Carola Bracco, the Executive Director of Neighbors' Link, which is providing legal services for the young man and his mother, issued this statement:

"It has been confirmed that Diego Puma Macancela has been moved to a detention facility in Alexandria, LA. Rosa Macancela was moved to LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, LA.

This is part of the typical process and does not mean this is a fait accompli.

Neighbors Link is still hopeful that the second stay of removal based on the new information provided this past Friday, June 16, will work in our favor."

Bracco said June 14 that "In his asylum application Diego, who was 16, revealed the lengths to which he went to escape gang violence." However, advocates said, unfamiliarity with the nuances of English and the asylum application may have made his initial statement unclear.

Ossining residents have begun calling federal officials. "There is not a minute to waste," reads the post circulating on Facebook.

CONGRESSWOMAN LOWEY
White Plains District Office
222 Mamaroneck Ave., #312
White Plains, NY 10605
914-428-1707
914-328-1505 (fax)
SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER
Address: 780 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 486-4430
WASHINGTON 202 224-6542

SEE ALSO:

• Ecuador Says Ossining Teen Snatched Up By ICE Had No Gang Connection
  
• ICE Denies Stay for Teen It Snatched Before Prom
  
• UPDATE: ICE Says Ossining High School Senior Was Ordered Deported in November
  

Editor's Note: The facility Rosa Macancela was moved to is called LaSalle Detention Facility. It is located in Jena, LA. Diego is currently at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Alexandria, LA. Information was incorrect in the original version of this article.