STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (PIX11) — A National Guard soldier is fighting to get his stepfather back home after he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this week, according to the New York Immigration Coalition.
Jesus, a 22-year-old soldier who just completed his first year in the National Guard in November, said his stepfather was detained by ICE on Tuesday despite having no criminal record.
“I felt shock and disbelief. How could this be happening to my father in the very same country I proudly serve?” Jesus told NYIC.
He said his stepfather, who raised Jesus since childhood, was taken into custody while on his way to work.
“My father is a hardworking man, and like so many on Staten Island, the only way ICE was able to detain him was at work,” Jesus said during a press conference on Thursday.
Jesus’ younger sister, who’s also in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, got in touch with the executive director of the immigrant rights organization La Colmena.
Now, Jesus and his sister, with support from their fellow service members, are working to navigate the legal challenges of bringing their father home.
“I’m feeling a lot of emotions…all I want is my father back, and for our family to be back together,” he said.
The news of Jesus’ stepfather comes just after President Donald Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, announced that ICE would be increasing operations in New York City.
Last week, ICE agents were captured on video entering a Queens home without identifying themselves and pointing guns at the children inside while looking for someone who reportedly did not live at that address, according to NYIC.
It also comes just a month after an ICE raid in Manhattan’s Chinatown targeting alleged illegal street vendors.