White Plains HS Grad Detained By ICE

WHITE PLAINS, NY — A White Plains High School graduate going to school in Syracuse was picked up and has been detained for almost a week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lissette Rodriguez, 22, now a student at Bryant & Stratton College in Syracuse, was waiting for a bus when ICE agents arrested her.

Her brother, Bryan Rodriguez, said the agents “detained my sister for looking Latina. In a crowd of many, they went straight for my sister and detained her.”

She is being held in a shelter in Buffalo, and ICE set a bond of $15,000 which must be paid in order for her to be released.

On a GoFundPage set up to help raise the money, Bryan Rodriguez said Lissette Rodriguez has Special Immigration Juvenile Status and has been waiting for a visa to become available so she can apply for a green card.

She and her family came to the United States from Mexico when she was 14.

Lissette Rodriguez graduated from White Plains High School with a 3.8 GPA and won a scholarship to attend college.

Bryan Rodriguez said that despite her special status, the ICE officers wrongly said her case had been denied.

She has never committed a crime and is a full-time college student, her brother said. She is supposed to graduate in May.

“We know it’s a lot of money, but I believe in the power of community and for a good cause, miracles can happen,” Bryan Rodriguez said.

By midday Monday, Jan. 29, almost $8,000 has been raised. The GoFundMe page can be found here.