"Every time someone knocks on the front door, little 3-year-old Emmanuel thinks his dad is on the other side. Every time the door opens, he isn't there. Weeks ago, his father, Yonquenide, was detained by masked ICE agents at Federal Plaza at what was supposed to be a routine asylum application hearing. The detainment ripped the family apart, leaving Yonquenide's pregnant wife, Franyelis, struggling to provide for Emmanuel and their other son, 8-year-old Yoneifer, with a third child on the way."
"But after the hearing, he found himself suffering the same fate as hundreds of other immigrants at Federal Plaza in recent months: In the clutches of masked ICE agents who hastily dragged him away from his loving wife and family. He started to cry, Franyelis recalled to amNewYork as she sat at her kitchen table, the raw, visceral moment almost visible just behind her welling eyes."
Yonquenide, 27, was detained by masked ICE agents at Federal Plaza after attending a court hearing for his asylum application. The detainment occurred outside the court and resulted in his removal from his pregnant wife, Franyelis, and their two young sons, Emmanuel, 3, and Yoneifer, 8, with a third child expected. The family now lives in a Brooklyn apartment with Yonquenide's sister while Franyelis struggles to provide for the children. Emmanuel believes his father is at work and repeatedly expects him at the front door, holding a photo and calling, Papa. The family has not seen Yonquenide in more than three weeks.
Read at www.amny.com
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