A father and his 6-year-old son who were separated by immigration officials in New York City have been deported to China, weeks after their case drew outrage.
The child, Yuanxin Zheng, is among the youngest migrants in New York to be taken from a parent by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during a routine check-in. He and his father, Fei Zheng, who lived in Queens, were detained on Nov. 26; President Trump’s deportation crackdown has swept up increasing numbers of migrant families and children.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that the family was sent to China on Wednesday.
“We are happy to report we were able to remove the family back to their home country,” Ms. McLaughlin wrote in an email.
Jennie Spector, a community activist and family friend who spoke with Mr. Zheng two days before he was deported, said that he complied with the deportation order because he wanted to be reunited with his child. He had resisted previous attempts to force him and Yuanxin back to China. Mr. Zheng had told ICE officials that he had tried to kill himself while in detention and was later put on suicide watch, according to a person familiar with the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it.
“It is quite sad,” Ms. Spector said on Friday. “He came here wanting to give his son a different and better life than he might have had in China. That’s what they were coming for. And they had a lot to offer.”
The day before Thanksgiving, the Zhengs showed up for a scheduled appointment at 26 Federal Plaza, ICE’s headquarters in the city and the epicenter of migrant arrests. After the two were arrested, Mr. Zheng was sent to an adult detention center in Orange County, N.Y., while officials prepared Yuanxin to be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which holds unaccompanied immigrant children.
Their separation led to criticism from community leaders and elected officials, including Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City. Hundreds of people gathered at a Queens playground in early December to protest their separation.
Mr. Zheng and his son illegally entered the United States in April through Mexico. They were discovered by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Dulzura, Calif., and after being placed in custody, Mr. Zheng told federal agents that he had come to America because he was afraid of being tortured in his native China.
Immigration officials determined that his fear was not credible, and an immigration judge affirmed that finding. Mr. Zheng does not have a criminal history, according to government records.
The family cycled in and out of detention at least twice. Immigration officials had tried two times to get Mr. Zheng to board a plane to China, but he refused.
When immigration agents arrested Mr. Zheng last month, he became aggressive with officers and hit his forehead against a wall, according to internal records. Officers placed him in handcuffs, and Mr. Zheng said that he wanted to die, the records said.
From Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January through mid-October, ICE has arrested at least 140 children younger than 18 in the New York City area, according to federal data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley. Nationwide, the government has arrested about 2,600 minors.
Camille Hlavka, whose child attends the public school in Queens where Yuanxin was enrolled, said in an interview on Friday that she was devastated to hear about the deportation.
“He was taken from an opportunity that his dad worked so hard for,” Ms. Hlavka said. “I think we are forgetting as a society that every human matters.”
Jonah E. Bromwich and Nicole Hong contributed reporting.
Ana Ley is a Times reporter covering immigration in New York City.
The post Immigration Officials Deport Queens 6-Year-Old and Father Who Fled China appeared first on New York Times.
