Immigrant Dad Blocked From Seeing Separated Kids In NYC: Lawyers

EAST HARLEM, NY — A Honduran father was blocked from reconnecting with two of his daughters in New York City after they were separated from their mother under the Trump administration’s zero tolerance immigration policy, the family’s lawyers said Wednesday.

"This is not acceptable," said Michael Avenatti, one of the lawyers. "This is not our America."

Hector Tejada Santos and his family fled Honduras earlier this year to escape violence directed at them, Avenatti said.

Santos made it to the U.S. in January along with his oldest daughter, 14-year-old Karen. He was processed, released and given an ankle monitor by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Avenatti said.

But his wife, Denise Tejada, and their two younger girls — Cecia, 9, and Serli, 5 — didn’t arrive until June, when the federal policy calling for the prosecution of anyone caught crossing the border illegally was in effect, lawyers said.

More than 2,000 immigrant children have reportedly been separated from their families under the policy, which has stirred public outrage in New York and across the country in recent weeks.

Denise was detained and separated from her daughters, who were sent to New York City, Avenatti said. The girls are among the more than 300 separated immigrant kids who have been brought to an East Harlem facility run by Cayuga Centers.

Santos sought permission from ICE to fly to New York from Galveston, Texas, where he is now living, and visit his youngest daughters, according to the family's lawyers.

But ICE refused, Avenatti said, leaving Santos hundreds of miles from the girls a day after the Trump administration missed an initial court-ordered deadline for reuniting the youngest separated kids with their parents.

“There is absolutely no reason why the federal government cannot release these two girls to their own father," Ricardo DeAnda, the family's other attorney, said outside the East Harlem facility Wednesday. "They are forcing us to come here."

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Avenatti said on Twitter that Cayuga Centers initially refused to let him and DeAnda visit Cecia and Serli on Wednesday, but they were allowed access to the girls after attention was drawn to the move.

Many of the immigrant kids reportedly remain apart from their parents despite a federal court order requiring the government to reunite all the families within 30 days.

A California federal judge directed the Trump administration to reunify all children younger than 5 with their families by Tuesday. But that had only happened to four children before the deadline, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Some 34 of the children were expected to be reunited with their families on Tuesday, the department said.

ICE has refused to let Santos contact his youngest daughters and wouldn't tell him where they were until about a week ago, Avenatti said. Tejada has only been allowed to speak with them by phone once, he said.

Elected officials condemned the federal government's refusal to provide access to some of the facilities providing care for the separated kids.

State Assemblyman Michael Blake (D-Bronx) said the Department of Health and Human Services made him wait two weeks before denying him access to Bronx facilities where the children are receiving services.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has previously criticized the department for remaining tight-lipped about how many children are in the city and what plans there were to reunite them with their parents.

"What are you hiding, federal government?" Blake said.

(Lead image: Attorney Michael Avenatti speaks outside the Cayuga Centers facility in East Harlem where Hector Tejada Santos' two youngest daughters are receiving services. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)