A Chinese father and son who were arrested by ICE and separated inside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan last month have been reunited — and then swiftly deported to China.
Zheng and his six-year-old son Yuanxin were both deported to China this week, the New York Times first reported. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed the deportation to the Times saying, “We are happy to report we were able to remove the family back to their home country.”
THE CITY first reported on the separation of Zheng and his six-year-old son Yuanxin earlier this month, which quickly drew nationwide attention and widespread condemnation from elected officials, including multiple members of Congress and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Hundreds of parents and kids rallied last week near PS 166 in Astoria, the school where Yuanxin had been enrolled, calling for the family’s reunification and release.
Since their arrest on Nov. 26, Zheng had been held at the Orange County Jail upstate, where ICE has a contract with the county to hold detained immigrants. His son was in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which takes charge from ICE for unaccompanied children.
Jennie Spector, a volunteer who was in touch with Zheng over the phone and in person during his confinement, said Zheng was eventually able to speak with his son twice over the phone while they were separated, though he wasn’t told of his exact whereabouts.
On Wednesday, ICE’s detainee locator showed Zheng had been moved from Orange County Jail, but did not list a new location. By Thursday Zheng was no longer in ICE’s system, indicating he was no longer in their custody.
“This was a family who wanted to contribute to their community, a child who was bright and wanted to get a good education, a father who wanted the best for his child and wanted to work hard,” Spector said. “They were denied that opportunity because of our broken and punitive immigration system, a system that is now set up to cause as much harm as possible.”
The Department of Homeland Security initially explained the family’s separation saying Zheng had refused to board a plane and “was acting so disruptive and aggressive that he endangered the child’s wellbeing.”
Citing internal DHS records, the New York Times later reported Zheng hit his head against a wall and said he wanted to die during his arrest at 26 Federal Plaza.
Yuanxin is one of a growing number of children arrested and detained by ICE, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project through a Freedom of Information Act request. One hundred and fifty one children under the age of 18 have been arrested between January and October, with a steep increase beginning in May.
Zheng and his son first entered the United States seeking asylum this spring and had twice before spent time at a family ICE detention center in Texas before. They had only been free for about a month on parole at the time of their November arrest.
“The first time he was in detention, he still had hope,” said a friend of Zheng’s, also from China, who met him while the two lived at a shelter in Long Island City. “But the second time, much different.”
The friend, who asked not to be named fearing retaliation, has been in touch with Zheng’s wife since his first arrest in August. Over the last few months, much of their conversations have revolved around panicked questions: What to do, how to get a lawyer, how to present Zheng’s case to the court.
“Just one word came to mind when he was arrested the second time: disaster,” he told THE CITY in Cantonese. “And when we found out he’s been separated from his son, another word came to mind: “Wait. There’s nothing else we could do about it.”
Zheng’s wife had learned about her husband’s deportation from a lawyer in New York, the friend said. He recalled her reaction in a recent conversation upon hearing about his husband’s impending return.
“She sounded hopeless — unsure of what to do next,” he described. “But she also sounded very clear-eyed about this. She’s just worried about what life would look like in the future. What her husband would do, how to make a living, how to support her husband when he returns, how to deal with his despair.”
Related
