Connecticut student released from ICE detention after high school rallies behind him

A counsellor at a Connecticut high school says one of her students is feeling "kind of shell-shocked" after he spent more than three months in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. 

Mia Breuler met with her student Mario Aguilar Castañon for breakfast this week after a judge in Boston granted the 18-year-old from Guatemala asylum on Monday. 

Staff and students at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Conn., rallied together to support Aguilar Castañon.

"He's shy by nature, so that is why I think it's even more bizarre for him, coming home to realize that there had been this much press and advocacy for him," Breuler told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann. "It is a little overwhelming for him."

ICE spokesperson John Mohan told CNN Aguilar Castañon is an "illegally-present citizen of Guatemala" who was arrested for immigration violations. 

Aguilar Castañon came to the U.S. from Guatemala as an unaccompanied minor in 2018. 

"He was one of the children who was being sought after by the gangs to join," Breuler said. "He was being threatened." 

He was arrested by ICE officials in September while entering Connecticut's Milford Superior Court, where he was scheduled to face charges related to a car crash. 

Police say he hit a parked car while driving without a license or insurance. He was also charged with driving under the influence, but his lawyers say no sobriety test was conducted. 

Breuler says the student maintains he was not under the influence at the time of the collision, but admits to driving without a license. 

"Sadly, [he] didn't realize that he shouldn't have gone [to court] unaccompanied," Breuler said. "That's something that our students also have been raising awareness [about] with all our student body."

No-show at school 

Breuler first became aware of Aguilar Castañon​'s situation when he ​​​​didn't show up for school in September. His family confirmed that he hadn't come home from work and was missing. 

Initially, Breuler thought maybe he was hurt and had ended up in hospital. But she couldn't find anyone by his name when she called around. 

Eventually, she and his family were able to track him down at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Massachusetts. 

Once Breuler learned where her student was, she provided the facility with her Visa card number so that they could charge Aguilar Castañon's calls to her. 

"I spoke to him daily just so that there was some line of communication," she said.

Students raised money for his commissary, made posters, sent postcards and organized rallies in support of their classmate. 

Teachers prepared homework packs for their student — although officials refused to pass on the documents.

Spanish teacher Mary Perez Estrada told CNN she pulled books from her own personal collection to send to Aguilar Castañon, and drew smiley faces inside. 

In her class, no one sat at Aguilar Castañon's desk for weeks. 

"He would always sit close to the board," she said. "I actually just found ... in an old paper from the very first day of school, he had written something like, 'Being a dedicated student and trying my hardest is what is most important to me even though I'm alone in this country.'" 

For Breuler, this week's asylum decision is a win. But she's still waiting to see whether Department of Homeland Security officials will appeal that decision in the allotted 30 days.

If they do, Aguilar Castañon could end up back in detention. 

"This feels really semi-victorious right now because it's amazing that he's at least not in detention, because that was really hard to imagine as a mother and as an educator and as a counselor ... and as a Latina," Breuler said.

"Still, there's that anxiety that kind of sits there until something is really formally finalized." 

Written by Katie Geleff with files from The Associated Press. Interview with Mia Breuler produced by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes.