Yesterday’s Dream 30 border crossing action, organized by the National Immigrant Youth Alliance (NIYA) as part of the Bring Them Home campaign has resulted in the almost immediate release of seven people of the original 36 people who crossed.  NIYA activists now want to know how long it will be until the other 29 border crossers will be released. 

Elsy Núñez, originally from Honduras, and her four-year-old daughter Valeria, who is a U.S. citizen, were released late Monday–just hours after the action in Laredo, Texas. Since then, Javier Galvan, 16, and his father Javier Calderon were released; Jessica Gallegos, 16, and her sister Ingrid Gallegos, 13, were released with their mother Victoria Reyes; and Brandow Gonzalez, 15, and his mother, were released. That leaves only one minor–Luis Lopez Rivera, 17–in Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) custody. NIYA organizer Mohammad Abdollahi says that officials have indicated Lopez Rivera will be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement; CBP declined to comment on the case.

Aside from Lopez Rivera, 28 of the Dream 30 remain in custody. According to Abdollahi, the seven who have been released so far obtained almost immediate humanitarian parole because of a "significant public interest." NIYA activists now want to know whether the 28 will also be released in the public interest, or whether they will be transferred to an immigrant detention center, as happened with the Dream 9.

Brandow Gonzalez, who left his home in Columbus, Ohio, when his parents were deported four years ago, was elated after his relase today. "I was prepared to be in detention for a long time, and I was prepared to suffer there," says Gonzalez. "I’m surprised, but so happy and so grateful."

Details are still emerging; check back for more coverage soon.