Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Chinese man and his 6-year-old son at a scheduled check-in in New York City last week, separating them with the child’s location still unknown to his father as of Tuesday.
Torn apart: Fei Zheng and his son Yuanxin arrived at ICE’s New York headquarters at 26 Federal Plaza for a routine check-in on Nov. 26. But in a shocking turn of events, authorities transferred Zheng to a detention facility in Goshen and prepared to move his child to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the federal agency that holds unaccompanied immigrant children. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Zheng “refused to board the plane and was acting so disruptive and aggressive that he endangered the child’s wellbeing,” comparing the situation to police placing children in protective custody when parents disobey lawful orders. However, she also declared “ICE does not separate families.”
After crossing into the U.S. through Mexico in April — a path taken by many Chinese migrants in recent years — Border Patrol discovered the father and son in Dulzura, California. Zheng told agents he feared torture if returned to China, but immigration officials and a judge both rejected his claim as not credible. The pair had been detained twice before since April, but authorities had never separated them until last week’s arrest.
Zoom out: The Zheng family’s experience reflects broader enforcement patterns under the Trump administration. From January through mid-October, authorities reportedly arrested at least 140 minors under 18 in the New York area, contributing to approximately 2,600 nationwide arrests of children. The shift is particularly visible at routine check-ins, once administrative formalities that have increasingly become arrest opportunities.
Alma Bowman, a Filipino American activist, was recently released after being detained and separated from her family for 243 days after arriving at the Atlanta Field Office on March 26, also for a scheduled appointment. She was arrested despite asserting citizenship through her father’s U.S. Navy service.
What this means: The Zheng and Bowman cases expose distinct vulnerabilities facing Asian families within the immigration system. What were once routine administrative appointments have become high-risk encounters where families can be detained or separated without warning. For families with military connections like Bowman’s, outdated citizenship laws create legal uncertainties that span generations. Meanwhile, the separation of Zheng and his son shows that enforcement now extends beyond individuals with criminal backgrounds to families actively engaged in legal immigration proceedings.
Yuanxin recently enrolled as a first-grader at P.S. 166Q in Astoria. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani condemned his separation from his father on social media. “Now he’s in custody, alone. ICE won’t say where,” Mamdani wrote. “This cruelty serves no one. It must end.”
Federal records show authorities intend to deport both father and son together later this month, while Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez work to reunite them sooner.
This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.
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