The whereabouts of a six-year-old boy from China remain unknown after he was allegedly separated from his father while both were held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York last week.
The city’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday raised the issue on social media, saying that the first grader, named Yuanxin, was “arrested and separated” along with his father Fei Zheng during a “routine check-in” with ICE on November 26.
“Now he’s in custody, alone. ICE won’t say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end,” he added.
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US Representative from New York Nydia Velazquez joined Mamdani on social media. “ICE tore 6-year-old Yuanxin from his father at a check-in at 26 Federal Plaza and they still won’t say where he is,” she said.
Velazquez claimed that ICE arrested 151 children between January and October. “They are tearing families apart and traumatising kids. My heart is with this family. We need answers now,” she added.
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Widespread anti-immigrant operations spark fear in Asian communities across the US
Widespread anti-immigrant operations spark fear in Asian communities across the US
Fei Zheng appears in ICE’s online detainee locator as being held at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, upstate New York. However, the South China Morning Post could not locate Yuanxin in the database.