LOS ANGELES — Damian Zermeño, 15, sensed something was wrong the moment he got home from school. His aunt sat at the dining table, sobbing.
His father, who’d walked him to the bus stop that morning and promised to take him to dinner when he got back, wasn’t there. Saúl Zermeño, a 45-year-old single dad, had gone to a routine check-in appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office that morning, a requirement he’d complied with for years.
The father had deferred action that allowed him to stay and work in the U.S., according to his attorney. But that day, Oct.
3, officers deported him to Mexico, where he hadn’t lived since he was 9 years old. Zermeño had been Damian’s sole caregiver since he was a baby because his mother chose not to be involved in the boy’s life, the family said.
Suddenly, Damian, who was born in the U.S., found himself separated from his father by thousands of miles and a heavily guarded border.
KFF Health News published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 18 Jun 2026.
The item focuses on Arrests of Immigrant Parents Create Mental Health Crisis for Children.
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