US immigration: 6-year-old goes missing after immigrant father’s arrest; Zohran Mamdani claims he is in ICE custody

Yuanxin, a 6-year-old from China, remains missing after he was allegedly separated from his father during a routine United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) check-in in New York on 26 November. According to Zohran Mamdani, the child was taken into custody alone. The mayor-elect claims that ICE has refused to disclose the child's location.

“Last week, ICE arrested and separated a father and son after a routine check-in. 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,” Mamdani wrote on Twitter (now X).

He is not the only one to raise concerns. US Representative Nydia Velazquez has said that ICE had removed the boy from his father at 26 Federal Plaza. “They still won’t say where he is,” she said.

According to her, ICE arrested 151 children between January and October. She argues that such actions tear families apart and cause serious trauma. Both leaders demanded immediate accountability.

Fei Zheng, the father, is listed in ICE’s detainee locator. He is being held at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York. But, his 6-year-old son does not appear in the system.

DHS official Tricia McLaughlin has told the South China Morning Post that ICE “does not separate families”. Still, she did not reveal where the boy is.

According to her, Zheng and his son are “illegal aliens from China” who had a lawful removal order. Zheng refused to board the deportation flight, behaved aggressively and endangered the child, per her statement.

“If law enforcement pulled an American citizen over with kids in the back seat and they chose to not comply with lawful orders, the parents would be arrested and the children would be placed in safe custody,” SCMP quoted her statement as saying.

Yuanxin should be in school

Community activist Jennie Spector said she had spoken with the father after his arrest. According to her, the father was not told where ICE agents were taking the child.

Spector stressed that separating him from a caring parent was wrong. She argued that families should not be separated under such circumstances.

“This is a 6-year-old who should be in school, not living in detention, and certainly not being separated from his father, who is a caring, intelligent person who takes good care of him. They should not be separating families,” THE CITY quoted her as saying.