Buffalo, New York - Human rights organizations are taking legal action on behalf of a 19-year-old asylum seeker who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement while appearing for a scheduled court hearing in Buffalo.

The complaint – filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Prisoners' Legal Services of New York, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights – accuses ICE of illegally arresting and detaining Oliver Mata Velasquez earlier this month.

The teen "has done everything the government has asked him to," the court filing reads, before detailing how Velasquez followed every step of "the process the United States established for people seeking asylum."

Velasquez's arrest comes as the Trump administration ramps up its brutal mass detention and deportation campaign. For weeks, there have been reports of ICE agents swarming immigration courts across the country in a bid to fast-track removals.

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"ICE's effort to meet its mass deportation quotas by arresting people who are showing up for mandated immigration hearings is a gross violation of justice," Amy Belsher, director of immigrants' rights litigation at NYCLU, said in a press release.

"Oliver was doing exactly what the government asked of him by showing up to court and pursuing a legal pathway to citizenship. For the Trump administration to punish him or anyone else for following the rules turns our courthouses into traps, not places of justice. We are all less safe when people are scared to follow the law."

Velasquez's legal representatives filed an emergency habeas case on Friday evening in the Western District of New York. Soon thereafter, the court issued an order prohibiting the government from transferring the teen out of the state.

Attorneys followed that up with a preliminary injunction motion calling for Velasquez's release as they detailed the ongoing harms he faces in detention.

"Since arriving at the Buffalo Federal Immigration Detention Center ('BFDF'), he has not been able to sleep, has suffered harassment by other detainees, many of whom are decades older than Oliver, and he fears physical harm as well as being placed in solitary confinement," the complaint states.

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"He has been separated from his family and support network and fears that he will be sent back to Venezuela – where he was abandoned by his parents and from where he seeks asylum."

Velasquez's arrest follows that of a Bronx high schooler from Venezuela named Dylan, who was also detained during a routine immigration court appointment, sparking protests.