Philipsburg, Pennsylvania - A high school student who was abducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been held for nearly ten months revealed alleged racist mistreatment at the hands of guards.

On May 21, 2025, Dylan Lopez Contreras was abducted by ICE while attending a routine immigration court hearing. He was a freshman at Ellis Prep Academy, a high school for kids who have only recently entered the US.

Ten months later, he still remains in detention at the Moshannon Valley ICE processing center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, despite ongoing pressure to have him released by his family and friends.

"Life in here tends to be quite uncomfortable, stressful, and monotonous, among other things," Dylan wrote to the Guardian in February, describing the conditions within the prison.

"There are often many conflicts over things as simple and trivial as snoring or leaving a small piece of trash," he said.

"Here we are living together with people from different cultures, and on top of that, we also have to tolerate the guards, who are often racist and mistreat us."

Dylan's remarks to the Guardian come as part of a lengthy story in which reporter Maanvi Singh spoke with numerous students from Ellis Prep Academy.

He described the conditions within the detention center as "psychological torture" designed to terrorize inmates into "self-deporting."

"If you want stress and depression not to take over, you have to find ways to occupy and distract your mind," he said. "I distract myself by doing Sudoku, word searches, and playing board games."

"I miss my mother's food," he wrote. "I hope this comes to an end soon so I can be with you, and if it does not, I will carry you in my heart."