After an ICE arrest in Sunset Park, one family fights to hold itself together

Editor’s note: Names and some details in this story have been changed to protect the family while they go through the immigration court process.

May 29, 2014, was the day Alma Pedraza and her husband, Rafael, arrived in New York City on an unusually warm spring day.

Two months earlier, Alma and Rafael Pedraza had left home with their daughters, 3 and 8, on a journey that began in Puebla, Mexico, and led them to attempt to cross into the United States through McAllen, Texas.

Alma and the girls made it across on their first attempt. Rafael was detained by Border Patrol twice, but succeeded on his third try. After reuniting with his family in Houston, they moved to Sunset Park.

There were 479,371 arrests reported by Border Patrol in 2014 along the Southwest border, the highest number since 2009, despite a downward trend in arrests during the first year of the Obama administration’s second term. But none of that was on the Pedraza family’s mind.

They only wanted to find proper treatment for their younger daughter’s epilepsy. At the time, she was having an average of five seizures a week. That is why they left Mexico.

“We had already exhausted every resource we had to care for her,” Alma said by phone. “Every time we took her to the neurologist, we spent between 8,000 and 10,000 pesos [about $350 to $700], and we just couldn’t do it anymore.”

Twelve years later, in Sunset Park, with two more children and surrounded by Alma’s relatives, the Pedraza family’s immigration saga continues.

On Nov. 19, 2025, Rafael Pedraza was arrested on his way to work by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in Sunset Park. He was later transferred to the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, where he has remained detained ever since.

A day that changed everything

The night of Nov. 18 was a long one for Alma Pedraza. Her mother had injured her leg and knee in a fall earlier that day. Despite the pain, she did not want to go to the hospital.

After Rafael came home from work and the family had dinner, they went to see Alma’s mother, only to find her crying in pain.

“Suegra [mother-in-law],” he told her, “let’s go. I’ll carry you.” Alma stayed with her mother through the night, while Rafael went back home.

Alma and her mother returned home at 4:30 a.m. At that point, Rafael woke up to ask how everything had gone, then fell back asleep to get a few more minutes of rest before leaving for work.

Usually, Alma made Rafael breakfast, but not that day. She was exhausted from the long night, and Rafael prepared something for himself. At 6 a.m., he asked her to lock the door behind him. Then he left for work, as usual.

“After that, I didn’t hear anything from him,” Alma said. Not until hours later.

An hour later, she was already awake helping the children get ready for school. There was no message from Rafael on her phone, which was unusual. But tired as she was, she did not think much of it. After a while, she texted him to say she would stay home. Still, there was no reply.

“He always, always writes to me,” Alma said. “‘I got to the station, I’m waiting,’ or he tells me, ‘I’m on the train, I got to work.’ Always, for everything.”

At 9 a.m., she received a text from Rafael that changed everything: “My love, immigration got me.”

After the arrest, Rafael spent two weeks at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey, then was transferred to the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, where he has remained ever since.

Four months after the day that changed everything for the Pedraza family, Rafael and Alma are still in contact almost every day. Rafael has shared accounts of abuse inside the detention center.

“In that place, they treat them very badly,” Alma said. “They give them spoiled food. They don’t give them clean water. They have to drink water from the bathroom.”

But beyond the weight loss and signs of sleep deprivation, Rafael is mainly worried about his family.

“He’s worried. More than anything, he worries about his children,” Alma added.

The ones left behind

Alma said the instability caused by her husband’s arrest and prolonged absence has taken a toll on the emotional well-being of their four children.

“The children are not doing well right now, honestly,” Alma said. “They’re already seeing a psychologist, but my daughter, the one who is 14 and has epilepsy, is doing the worst.”

Although the seizures are under control, the experience has left the children afraid of being arrested, anxious and unable to sleep or eat well.

Even so, they have tried to hold on to their routines while managing the situation. The oldest daughter still goes to work, all of them are still attending school, and the youngest recently had his first basketball game.

In the middle of it all is Alma, managing mounting debt while waiting for immigration authorities to give news about Rafael’s case.

“I’m okay, considering everything,” Alma said. “I have to be strong.”