Julio Patricio, a loving single father to a six-year-old daughter, and a member of our community, was unfairly detained on October 14 by ICE. Agents came to his home in Staten Island earl in the morning and took him away. His detention separated him from his daughter Aliya, who has been devastated ever since.

Patricio has lived in Staten Island for over a decade, working as a construction foreman by day and spending all of his free time with his daughter, whom friends and family describe as his whole world. Together, Patricio and Aliya went on adventures all over New York, from soccer games to apple picking to Six Flags.

As a result of Julio Patricio being detained and terrorized by ICE’s inhumane tactics, his daughter has now lost her dad and her home, and cries every day wondering when her dad will return to her.

In a heartbreaking interview with NY1 yesterday, Aliya said: “I feel sad because I can’t see my dad. We went to Chuck E. Cheese together, we went to soccer together and we went to Legoland together. I always wanted to go to Legoland before and he took me. I want them to let my dad out now so he can be free with me.”

Julio Patricio is currently in a detention center in Pennsylvania, fighting to stop his deportation to a country he hasn’t set foot in over twenty years.

ICE tried to deport him once already early this week; fortunately, with the help of our legal team, an emergency order prevented his deportation for now. But he remains detained and at risk of permanent separation from his daughter.