A Texas man is fighting to get his wife and four children back after he says they were unexpectedly deported to Mexico.
Federico Arellano is a U.S. citizen, and says three of his four kids are too. He says there has been a misunderstanding and that his family was misled.
Now, a video call is the only way he’s been able to see his family.
Agents deport family
ICE agents deported Arellano’s wife, Christina Salazar, and their four kids to Mexico last week after they say they were told to come to the ICE field office in Houston to discuss Salazar’s immigration case.
“They told me that they were going to take her to Mexico because she had a deportation order,” Arellano said.
A judge signed off on the order in early October after Salazar missed an immigration hearing. The family says Salazar was recovering from giving birth to premature twins and doctors recommended she recover at home during that time.
Arellano said he informed the court about the situation and claims they reassured him by phone the date could be rescheduled.
Nearly two months later, Arellano said agents detained his wife and then their four children.
Immigration attorney Isaias Torres, who represents the family, said he has not seen an instance like this one that involves a family.
“I’ve seen criminals, ardent criminals, people with prior deportation. … I don’t understand why this happened,” Torres said.
Hopes to reunite
A video call is now the only way Arellano can see Salazar and their kids for the foreseeable future.
“I’m alone. I have no one to help me with my kids here and they are really sick,” Salazar said in a video call from Reynosa, Mexico.
Attorneys for the family said they are reaching out to members of Congress for help. ICE and the DOJ have not responded to CBS News for a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Arellano said he just wants his family back.
“To get them back and of course they return to me just as they were taken away. I want them to return to me,” he said.
