A Tempe student and his mother have experienced emotional distress after they were placed in an ICE detention facility in Texas, according to a Democratic lawmaker from Arizona who is fighting for their release.

Dilan Maney Paredes, 14, has been held at the Dilley detention center south of San Antonio for nearly three weeks after he was taken there in May with his mother, Margoth Del Pilar Paredes-Ortiz, following her arrest by federal immigration authorities.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Arizona, said he spoke with the teen’s mother June 10 by phone and she told him both have experienced emotional distress but she was more concerned about her son.

Stanton said he personally visited the Dilley detention center on May 26 and he described the facility as a collection of trailers in the middle of fields where families in ICE custody are held in “prison-like” conditions.

“She just said he’s regularly crying and obviously he’s very upset that he was detained the day before his graduation and that he had been looking forward to celebrating that important day in his life with classmates,” Stanton said.

Dilan was a student at Cecil Shamley Elementary School when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers brought his mother to the school to pick him up the day before his eighth-grade promotion ceremony after she had been arrested by ICE officers, advocates and ICE officials have said.

Stanton said he is demanding that Dilan and his mother, as his caretaker, be released by Monday, June 15, under the Flores Settlement, a federal court agreement that generally limits the government from holding migrant children in immigration detention for more than 20 days.

Monday marks the 20th day Dilan and his mother have been held at the Dilley detention center in south Texas, Stanton said.

“It is the law and so we’re demanding that they follow the law, and release Margoth and Dylan on Monday, let him come back and hopefully we can have some kind of graduation for this kid that missed out on that special moment in his life,” Stanton said.

COTTONWOOD, AZ (AZFamily) — A northern Arizona elementary school teacher was arrested after reports that he molested a boy years ago, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) said Friday.

Detectives said the investigation started when the mother of an 18-year-old told a deputy at her church that her son was molested by a man when he was 11 or 12 years old.

During the following week, YCSO said detectives determined the suspect was Chester Cox, 31, of Cottonwood, a teacher at Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School.

Investigators said the abuse took place at home, not at the school, and the victim was not a student at the school.

Cox also works as a youth coach in the community and did not meet the victim while working at the school.

Cox was arrested and later booked into jail on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of molestation of a child. He is being held without bond, YCSO said.

Deputies said Cox has lived in Cottonwood for approximately eight to nine years and has worked at Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School for about seven years. Before moving to Arizona, he lived in Missouri.

“Crimes against children are devastating offenses that can have lasting impacts on survivors and their families,” YCSO said in a statement. “We commend the courage of the survivor and the individual who came forward to report this abuse.”

Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call YCSO at 928-771-3260. Anonymous tips may also be submitted through Silent Witness at 1-800-932-3232.

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