Jake Robbins, Contributing Photographer

Teachers and students gathered at East Rock’s Wilbur Cross High School to support one of their own — a rising junior at the public school who was recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The student, Esdrás, whose last name advocates have not used since his arrest and requested the News omit, is 18. According to speakers at the rally, Esdrás was taken into custody by ICE on July 21 at his workplace as part of a targeted enforcement action and has since been transferred to a Louisiana detention facility. 

“We are going to fight this campaign to bring Esdrás home to New Haven,” Leslie Blatteau, President of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, told the News before the press conference. “Esdrás should be thinking about coming back to Wilbur Cross with his friends and his teachers that love him.” 

Wednesday’s press conference and protest took place just hours after a lawyer representing Esdrás was able to speak with him for the first time since his detention, Connecticut Students for a Dream Director Tabitha Sookdeo said. According to Sookdeo, the lawyer — who she did not name — confirmed that Esdrás has been transferred to the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.

In the days following his detention, Esdrás was first transported to an ICE facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, before being moved to New Hampshire, where he temporarily lost contact with his legal team. He was later transferred to Louisiana, where he is currently being held, Blatteau told the crowd. She expressed concern about conditions in ICE detention centers in Louisiana, which have been criticized for poor conditions and remote locations that hinder communication between detainees and their families and attorneys. 

The rally was organized by several local immigrants’ advocacy groups, including Connecticut Students for a Dream, Unidad Latina en Acción and Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services. Speakers included local officials and educators, among them East Rock Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith, Wilbur Cross graduate John Carlos Musser and representatives from the mayor’s office, faith organizations and youth-led immigrant advocacy groups. 

“The Bible tells us that when we welcome immigrants, we welcome angels unaware,” Rev. Nathan Empsall of St. PJ’s Episcopal Church said in a speech at the rally. “When ICE took this high school student, they sent an angel to potentially inhumane conditions.”

State Sen. Gary Winfield also addressed the crowd and called for community solidarity in response to increased immigration enforcement, pointing to recent arrests at workplaces, schools and courts across Connecticut. He urged residents to stand publicly in support of immigrant neighbors.

In the last two months, ICE has detained a woman from Mexico in front of her home in the Hill and an Afghan interpreter who was leaving the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services office in East Hartford after an appointment related to his green card application, per reporting by the New Haven Independent.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, ICE activity has surged across Connecticut. During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to deport migrants living in the United States en masse. 

Between January and mid-June, ICE made 247 arrests in Connecticut, more than double the number during the same period last year, according to the Deportation Data Project. 

According to Cross students who spoke at the rally, Esdrás is a member of Connecticut Students for a Dream, an advocacy organization of undocumented students that has been active in statewide efforts to expand access to healthcare for undocumented immigrants. 

Earlier this year, he submitted testimony to the state legislature’s appropriations committee in support of a proposal to provide health insurance to all Connecticut residents under the age of 26, regardless of immigration status. 

Magda Natal, a teacher at Wilbur Cross High School, spoke on behalf of the school’s faculty at the rally, emphasizing Esdrás’s dedication, integrity and positive presence in the classroom. She described him as a student with excellent attendance, strong academic performance and a commitment to learning English, noting his steady progress. Natal highlighted his upstanding character, kindness toward peers and willingness to help other students.

Alex Guzhñay ’24, the mayor’s legislative liaison to the Board of Alders and a former Ward 1 alder himself, also spoke at the event, delivering a statement on behalf of Mayor Justin Elicker, who was unable to attend. The statement reaffirmed the city’s support for Esdrás and his family. 

“The Trump administration is cracking down on families who are part of our community, it is shameful and cruel,” a CT Dream representative read in a statement from U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro at the rally. “Esdrás is not a threat – he worked a job, he went to school, he helped his classmates, and now, because of the President’s cruel and chaotic policy, he sits in detention separated from his family, his education, and his friends.” 

ICE communication officials did not immediately respond to the News’ request for comment on Esdrás’s detention. 

Wilbur Cross High School is located at 181 Mitchell Drive.