Honduran father, lawyers seek release of 2 daughters in NYC foster care center

NEW YORK — When Hector Tejeda Santos told his pregnant wife and two young daughters to flee Honduras and meet him in the United States, he said he hoped they would find peace of mind in Texas.

Instead, he learned in June that his family had been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. His wife was taken to the Port Isabel Detention Center, and his daughters, 5-year-old Serli and 9-year-old Cecia, were shipped off to the Cayuga foster care center in East Harlem, New York. 

He's been trying to get his daughters released ever since.

"You can't imagine how much I've suffered," Santos, 32, who is in Gavelston, Texas, told The Record in a Spanish-language phone interview. "My daughters cry and cry. My wife is detained with a baby I'm not seeing grow."

Santos’ wife and daughters were among the more than 2,000 families separated under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, which called for the criminal prosecution of people who illegally crossed the Southwest border.

The federal government scrambled to reunite dozens of families with children under age 5 on Tuesday to meet a deadline imposed by a federal judge. The judge ordered the government to reunite those children with their parents by Tuesday and reunite children over age 5 by July 26. 

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The government did not reunite all migrant children in that age bracket with their parents in time, despite U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw's insistence that the government streamline its process to meet the deadlines.

When asked about family separations on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the answer is to "tell people not to come to our country illegally. That's the solution. Don't come to our country illegally."

Santos, who entered the country earlier this year with his oldest daughter, planned to travel to New York City with his lawyer, Ricardo de Anda, to pick up his two younger daughters. But he is wearing an ankle monitor pending the results of his asylum petition and was told he couldn't travel without permission from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The agency did not grant him permission, de Anda said.

Santos’ wife, Denise Santos, 30, was supposed to be released so she could be reunited with the girls at Cayuga, but de Anda said ICE has kept her detained without explanation.

Instead, de Anda and Michael Avenatti, a Los Angeles  attorney best known for representing Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who has sued Trump over an alleged affair and $130,000 that she said she was paid to keep quiet about it, held a news conference Wednesday morning outside Cayuga Centers in East Harlem to call for the reunification of the Santos family.

“This is not acceptable,” Avenatti told reporters. “This is not our America. For months now, this cruel and unusual president has been holding children hostage in the name of politics.”

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released other immigrant parents so they can be reunited with their children, according to The Associated Press. Those parents were outfitted with ankle bracelets while their cases are being heard.

It is unclear whether Denise Santos is supposed to be released under those circumstances. An ICE spokeswoman declined to comment on her detainment and her separation from her daughters.

Avenatti said the chances of Denise Santos being released were unclear. “I’m seriously doubtful because of these Draconian policies, because of how stringent they’re being enforced,” he said.    

Avenatti said several mothers he represents have been deported without their children.

Hector Tejeda Santos said he worries about his wife, who is four months pregnant. He said she doesn't get sunlight and has trouble sleeping. Denise Santos recently had a fever and received no medical attention, he said.

"I don't know what's happening with this government because that's not the kind of life for a pregnant woman," he said.

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Seeking a 'normal life'

Hector Tejeda Santos and Denise Santos raised their family in Olancho, a department in eastern Honduras.

He and his lawyer declined to discuss why his family left and applied for asylum, but his family's move comes as countless Hondurans are fleeing a country where gang violence is terrorizing entire neighborhoods.

The U.S. State Department considers Honduras a high-risk area because of violent crime, according to a Jan. 10 travel advisory.

Hector Tejeda Santos and his 14-year-old daughter Karen came to the United States in January and stayed in Galveston, Texas. Karen started taking English as a Second Language and plans to start ninth grade in the fall. He said she wants to study medicine and become a doctor.

Hector Tejeda Santos said he also hoped to enroll his younger daughters in school and to support Denise through her pregnancy.

"I want them to have a normal life," he said. "I want my daughters to have a place where they can study, where I can buy them new shoes and clothes; a place safe from whatever dangers we used to face."

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Despite the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, Hector Tejeda Santos said he didn't expect his family to get split up while seeking asylum.

"I want the federal government to know we're human beings," he said. "They should understand because they're mothers and fathers, too."

USA Today contributed to the reporting of this article.

Steph Solis: @stephmsolis; 732-403-0074; ssolis@gannett.com.