A 6-year-old boy from Queens was separated from his father and placed in federal custody in New York City as President Trump’s deportation crackdown has swept up increasing numbers of migrant families and children.

特朗普政府的驱逐打击行动波及越来越多移民家庭和儿童，在此过程中，纽约皇后区一名六岁男孩与父亲分离，被联邦政府关押在纽约市。

The boy, Yuanxin Zheng, is among the youngest migrants to be taken from a parent by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during a routine check-in in New York City.

这名男孩名为郑元鑫（音），在移民与海关执法局在纽约市的例行登记检查中被带走，是从家长身边被带走的最年幼移民之一。

The day before Thanksgiving, Yuanxin showed up for a scheduled appointment with his father, Fei Zheng, at 26 Federal Plaza, ICE’s headquarters in the city and the epicenter for migrant arrests. After the two were arrested, Mr. Zheng was sent to an adult detention center in Orange County, N.Y., while officials prepared Yuanxin to be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which holds unaccompanied immigrant children, according to federal documents obtained by The New York Times.

感恩节前一天，郑元鑫跟随父亲郑飞（音）前往位于纽约联邦广场26号的移民与海关执法局总部——这里也是移民逮捕行动的核心地点——参加预约报到。《纽约时报》获取的联邦文件显示，二人被捕后，郑飞被送往纽约州奥兰治县的成人拘留中心，而执法部门则准备将郑元鑫转移至负责收容无人陪伴移民儿童的难民安置办公室。

Their separation, which was first reported by The City, has drawn outrage from community leaders and elected officials, including Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City. In a post on X, Mr. Mamdani denounced the family’s arrest and criticized ICE officials for not telling Mr. Zheng where his son was being held.

这起分离事件最初由《纽约城市报》(The City)报道，引发社区领袖和民选官员的强烈谴责，包括纽约市候任市长佐兰·马姆达尼。他在X平台发文谴责当局逮捕该家庭的行为，并批评移民与海关执法局官员未告知郑飞其子被关押地点。

“This cruelty serves no one,” Mr. Mamdani said. “It must end.” A spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer said that he was working with Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a fellow Democrat from New York, and local immigration advocates to persuade federal officials to provide Mr. Zheng with his child’s location.

“这种残忍行径对任何人都没有好处，必须停止，”马姆达尼表示。参议员查克·舒默的发言人透露，舒默正与同为纽约州民主党人的众议员妮迪亚·韦拉斯克斯及当地移民权益倡导者合作，敦促联邦官员向郑飞提供儿子的下落。

The case appears to be an example of a tactic that the Trump administration has used to pressure undocumented immigrants to leave the United States by separating them from their families after they refuse to comply with deportation orders.

这一案例似乎是特朗普政府采用的施压策略的例证：当无证移民拒绝遵守驱逐令时，当局通过拆散家庭迫使其离境。

Government records show that Mr. Zheng was taken from his son because he did not comply with an order to leave the country.

政府记录显示，郑飞与儿子被强制分离的原因是他未遵守离境令。

Mr. Zheng and his son illegally entered the United States in April through Mexico, and were discovered by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Dulzura, Calif., according to federal documents. After both were placed in custody, Mr. Zheng told federal agents that he had come to America because he was afraid of being tortured in his native China.

联邦文件显示，郑飞父子于今年4月经由墨西哥非法进入美国，在加利福尼亚州杜尔祖拉被美国边境巡逻队发现。二人被拘留后，郑飞向联邦执法人员表示，他前往美国是因为担心在祖国中国遭受酷刑。

Immigration officials determined that his fear was not credible, and an immigration judge affirmed that finding. Mr. Zheng does not have a criminal history, according to government records.

但移民官员认定他的恐惧缺乏可信度，移民法官也确认了这一结论。政府记录显示，郑飞无犯罪记录。

The family cycled in and out of detention at least twice until their arrest on Nov. 26, according to government records and Mr. Zheng’s attorney, Mike Gao.

根据政府文件及郑飞的律师迈克·高（音）的说法，11月26日被捕前，这家人至少经历过两次被拘留又释放的过程。

Mr. Gao said that his client had refused to board an ICE flight to China in September because he was fearful of facing government retribution for fleeing the country.

迈克·高表示，因担心逃亡后遭政府报复，其当事人曾在9月拒绝登上移民与海关执法局飞往中国的航班。

Government records show that ICE tried again in October to get Mr. Zheng to board a plane to China, but he refused.

政府记录显示，移民与海关执法局在10月再次试图让郑飞登机返回中国，但他仍予以拒绝。

When immigration agents arrested Mr. Zheng last month, he became aggressive with officers and hit his forehead against a wall, according to internal records. Several officers placed him in handcuffs, and Mr. Zheng told them that he wanted to die, the records show.

内部文件显示，上月移民执法人员逮捕郑飞时，他曾对官员表现出攻击性，并用额头撞击墙壁。几名官员将其戴上手铐后，郑飞表示自己想死。

“It’s a very sad story,” Mr. Gao said during a telephone interview. “I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

“这是一个非常悲惨的故事，”迈克·高在电话采访中说。“我不知道他们接下来会怎么做。”

Federal officials are attempting to deport the father and son together later this month, records show, indicating that the government plans to reunite the family for the deportation flight.

文件显示，联邦官员正试图在本月晚些时候将父子二人一同驱逐出境，这表明政府计划让这家人团聚后共同搭乘遣返航班。

In an email, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, stressed that migrant parents were given the option of leaving the country with their children.

美国国土安全部发言人特里西亚·麦克劳克林在邮件中强调，移民父母可选择与子女一同离境。

“In the cases of Fei Zheng and his son — illegal aliens from China — they were given a lawful order of removal as a family unit,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

“就来自中国的非法移民郑飞及其子而言，他们已收到以家庭为单位的合法遣返令，”麦克劳克林表示。

Sophia Ortiz, a spokeswoman for Ms. Velázquez’s office, said that migrant children were spending much longer in government custody this year than in the past. Earlier in 2025, the average stay was about a month; by August, it had grown to roughly 179 days, she said.

韦拉斯克斯办公室发言人索菲亚·奥尔蒂斯指出，今年移民儿童在政府监护下的滞留时间较以往大幅延长。2025年初，平均滞留时间约为一个月；到8月时，这一数字已增至约179天。

“That makes it even more important for us to understand what’s happening in this case,” Ms. Ortiz said.

“这让我们更有必要弄清楚这起案件的具体情况，”奥尔蒂斯说。

Andrea Flores, a former White House immigration official in the Obama and Biden administrations, said that the authorities were using atypical methods to coerce Mr. Zheng into complying with his deportation. She said the family’s case would not have been a priority under previous administrations, both Democrat and Republican.

曾在奥巴马和拜登政府担任白宫移民政策官员的安德里亚·弗洛雷斯表示，执法部门正采用非常规手段胁迫郑飞接受驱逐。她指出，无论是民主党还是共和党执政的前几届政府，都不会将这家人的这类案件列为优先处理对象。

“The punishment for this father not getting on a plane is using his child, which is completely inhumane,” Ms. Flores said. “The tactics being used are torturous.”

“对这位父亲拒绝登机的惩罚竟然是利用他的孩子，这完全不人道，”弗洛雷斯说。“这些手段简直是酷刑。”

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former ICE official in the Biden, Trump and Obama administrations, said that the family had tried to enter the United States at a time when access to asylum was severely restricted, making it hard for them to stay.

曾在拜登、特朗普和奥巴马政府任职的前移民与海关执法局官员克莱尔·特里克勒-麦克纳尔蒂表示，这家人试图入境美国时，庇护申请渠道已受到严格限制，导致他们难以合法居留。

“What is our moral position on our values as a country?” Ms. Trickler-McNulty said. “Is the priority removing a family and creating potential trauma to a child? I think the agency is in a very hard spot on these cases. They tried a few times to not separate the family before they took this step.”

“作为一个国家，我们对自身价值观的道德立场是什么？”特里克勒-麦克纳尔蒂说。“就是优先遣返一个家庭，给孩子造成潜在创伤吗？我认为移民与海关执法局在这类案件中处于非常艰难的境地，在采取分离措施前，他们曾几次尝试避免拆散这个家庭。”

From Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January through mid-October, ICE has arrested at least 140 children younger than 18 in the New York City area, according to federal data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley. Nationwide, the government has arrested about 2,600 minors.

加州大学伯克利分校遣返数据项目获取的联邦数据显示，从今年1月特朗普就职至10月中旬，移民与海关执法局在纽约市地区已逮捕至少140名18岁以下儿童。在全国范围内，政府已逮捕约2600名未成年人。

Jennie Spector, a community activist who spoke with Mr. Zheng while he was in detention in Orange County on Saturday, said that Yuanxin had just been admitted to Public School 166 in Queens. The family had been looking forward to him learning English in school.

社区活动家珍妮·斯佩克特周六在奥兰治县拘留中心与郑飞会面后称，郑元鑫原本已被皇后区第166公立学校录取，全家一直期待他能在学校学习英语。

“He’s a very smart boy,” Ms. Spector said. “They do not need to be in detention. They are not criminals.”

“他是个非常聪明的男孩，”斯佩克特说。“他们根本不该被拘留，他们不是罪犯。”