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| Fei Zheng and his son , Yuanxin, have been deported to China, even though the followed the United States procedure for asylum. |
Federal immigration officials appeared to use a father's love for his child as a cudgel to convince a Chinese asylum seeker to concde to voluntary deportation.
After being detained for a month, Fei Zheng felt being with his 6-year old son was more important than go through a possibly long separation by fighting federal authorities over his deportation.
In a move critics call "coercive," Zheng was reportedly told the only way to see his son again was to waive his rights and agree to a voluntary departure. Faced with the impossible choice of remaining in detention while his son languished in a government facility or taking him home to China, Zheng chose his son, Yuanxin.
The agonizing saga of Fei Zheng (initially reported as Zhang) and his young son, Yuanxin, has reached a bitter conclusion that highlights the harsh realities of the US immigration system.
After a month of forced separation that sparked nationwide outrage and rallies across New York, the pair has finally been reunited—but only on the condition of their immediate removal from the country.
On December 17, Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed that Zheng and 6-year-old Yuanxin were put on a plane and deported back to China.
The nightmare began in November 2025, when Zheng—who had lived in the US for years—showed up for what he thought was usual ICE check-in.
Zheng and his son first entered the United States seeking asylum this spring and had twice before spent time at a family ICE detention center in Texas before. They had only been free for about a month on parole at the time of their November arrest.
Instead, like so many immigrants obeying the law by checking in with immigration officials, he was detained, and his son was snatched away and placed into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
For weeks, community activists and Asian American advocacy groups, including Yuanxin first-grade classmates and parents, demanded the child be returned to his father.
As of late December 2025, the family is back in China. While they are finally together, the cost of that reunion was the loss of the life they had built in America. It’s a somber reminder of the "silent" deportations still tearing families apart in the AAPI community.
“This was a family who wanted to contribute to their community, a child who was bright and wanted to get a good education, a father who wanted the best for his child and wanted to work hard,” said Jennie Spector, a volunteer who was in touch with Zheng over the phone and in person during his confinement,. “They were denied that opportunity because of our broken and punitive immigration system, a system that is now set up to cause as much harm as possible.”
“This was a family who wanted to contribute to their community, a child who was bright and wanted to get a good education, a father who wanted the best for his child and wanted to work hard,” said Jennie Spector, a volunteer who was in touch with Zheng over the phone and in person during his confinement,. “They were denied that opportunity because of our broken and punitive immigration system, a system that is now set up to cause as much harm as possible.”
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