In Lower Manhattan, an immigration appointment at 26 Federal Plaza turned into a bewildering separation of a father and son, according to advocates. The six-year-old’s location remains unknown after ICE agents detained the pair.
Reports state that on Nov. 26, Chinese asylum-seeker Fei Zheng and his son, Yuanxin, arrived at a scheduled check-in with supporters at their side. Agents then parted the family: Zheng was taken roughly 65 miles north to the Orange County Correction Facility in Goshen, New York.
Family Detained During Routine Check-In
Community advocate Jennie Spector described the urgency of the situation: “We do not know where his six-year-old son is, and he has not been told where his six-year-old son is,” community advocate Jennie Spector said.
She recounted Zheng’s bewilderment: “He said to me, ‘I did what they said I should do. I came in for this check-in.’ And yet they arrested him and his son,” Spector said.
This marked the third time since April that Zheng and his son faced ICE detention. After being paroled in late October, the family began building a life in Queens, with Yuanxin enrolling in first grade in Astoria.
DHS Statement and Local Reaction
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson responded, “ICE does not separate families… Mr. Zheng had the right and the ability to depart the country as a family and willfully chose to not comply.” ICE maintains that it does not detain unaccompanied children except in rare instances.
Advocates dispute that claim. “For them to say they don’t separate families is just an outright lie because we know that they do and they did in this situation. And we know that they’ve done it with many other families,” Spector said.
She added, “This is the case for so many of these families and individuals who are going in and following immigration law as mandated, yet they’re being arrested and detained and being disappeared. Right now, his son is disappeared,” Spector said.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani took to social media to condemn the detention: “Six-year-old Yuanxin had just enrolled in the first grade at an elementary school in Astoria. Now he’s in custody, alone. ICE won’t say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end.”
Spector stressed the importance of a stable environment: “I’m sure he was really enjoying being in school and that’s where he should be. That’s where a six-year-old should be — with other children and learning and being with their parents and not separated and in detention,” Spector said.
Legal advocates and local officials are mobilizing to secure Zheng’s release and reunite him with his son.
