Haitian father seized by ICE in Flatbush is moved to Mississippi as neighbors demand his return

Roberto Lamour, a Haitian father arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his Brooklyn apartment, is now held in Mississippi, more than 1,000 miles from his wife and daughter. Flatbush residents, community advocates and elected officials are calling for his immediate release. His family and neighbors say he was taken on the morning of Oct. 3.

What residents say happened at the door

Residents told amNewYork, whose reporting both Radio Mega and The Haitian Times relay, that several federal agents got into the building by saying they were NYPD officers. They said the agents kept up that claim at Lamour's door and demanded to be let in. A neighbor who gave her name as Angelina said the household first tried to cooperate with people they took for police. Once the door was open, she said, the agents went inside, asked for Lamour's identification and detained him.

Lamour's wife, Darchnee, first thought the NYPD had arrested him and went to a local precinct to ask for his release. He was not there. The NYPD later told amNewYork it had no knowledge of the incident and no part in it. Friends say Lamour has no criminal record.

From New Jersey to Mississippi

Lamour was first taken to an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. He was then moved to a detention center in Mississippi, according to amNewYork. The move put him far from his family, his neighborhood and his lawyer.

Calls for his release

On Oct. 22, neighbors and elected officials held a news conference in Flatbush to demand that he be freed and returned to his wife and their daughter, who is not yet 3. City Council Member Rita Joseph, who represents District 40, took part. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also attended, according to amNewYork. The building's tenant association, the New York Immigration Coalition and Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees have joined the effort.

Joseph said her office is in contact with the family. She said it will keep pressing local, state and federal officials for his release. She also condemned the separation of families through immigration enforcement.

Darchnee Lamour told amNewYork how their daughter reacts to the doorbell. She said the girl cries for her father and runs to the door each time it rings, believing he may have come back.

Neighbors say the claim that agents posed as police has raised concern about their safety in their own homes. Lamour's family and neighbors are asking federal authorities to bring him back to Brooklyn.