ICE agents separated Xiu Quing You from his wife, Yu Mei Chen, who is a U.S. citizen.
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"We followed the rules step by step to get status," says Chen.
You and Chen built their life together in Queens, owning a nail salon in Connecticut and raising two young children.
However, the past has a way of creeping into the future. You was granted asylum after arriving in the United States illegally back in 2000.
Two years later, he was issued an order of deportation - one that was never executed in the last 16 years - until last month when he went for his green card interview with his wife.
"In the middle of the interview they asked me to leave the room," Chen says.
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That is when ICE agents made their move, taking You, who has no criminal history into custody.
With the Trump Administration, there is a different cloud over immigration. Just this week, U.S. Attorney Jeff Sessions took aim at the asylum-seeking process, stating it is being abused, and calling a majority of the asylum cases not valid.
The family attorney says You faces persecution back in China, and now they are fighting to get him home, close to his children.
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