‘You’re Going on an Adventure,’ Peekskill Mom Tells Son Before Deportation

Community, electeds gather in Peekskill to call for due process ahead of deportation

Amy Lituma at the Peekskill Hispanic Community Corp. office on Monday, Aug. 11. (Eric Harvey)

By Eric Harvey, [email protected]

August 12, 2025

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How does a mother explain to her four-year-old son why they have to suddenly pack up their things and leave the country?

On Monday, Aug. 11, one day before she accepted voluntary deportation, 24-year-old Amy Lituma recalled to the Peekskill Herald what she told her son.

City of Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie at the Peekskill gazebo on Aug. 11. (Eric Harvey)

“You’re going on an adventure,” Lituma said she told the boy in Spanish. “We’re going to see your papaito [daddy or father figure].”

The now former City of Peekskill resident said she was told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents she could either purchase a plane ticket to her home country of Ecuador or be detained immediately without her son. While Lituma hoped for a miracle that could prevent her from leaving, she ultimately is self-deporting along with her son on Tuesday, Aug. 12.

The prior day (Aug. 11) at 11:30 a.m. elected officials, advocates, and residents rallied at the Peekskill gazebo to call for due process to be followed in all immigration cases and share information about what immigrant parents can do to prepare in the event of deportation.

The event was attended by City of Peekskill Mayor Vivian McKenzie, members of the Common Council, state Sen. Pete Harckham, Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg, Make the Road Action Director Jhefres Reyes, and Nancy Matsunaga of the CCoHOPE [Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Ossining, Peekskill] Immigration Committee.

“I need you to look around and see who’s not here,” McKenzie told attendees. “And who’s not here are immigrants and they’re not here because they’re afraid to be here. So that means they’re afraid to be in their own city.”

The rally followed several viral videos on July 15 in which Lituma’s son was seen pleading with Homeland Security Investigation agents not to take his mother.

Ignacio Acevedo on Monday, Aug. 11. To his right is state Sen. Pete Harckham and state Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg. (Eric Harvey)

Though Lituma said agents were searching for her husband, both she and her son were taken to a facility in Newburgh, later released in the evening. But Lituma said an immigration case with a deportation order she received when she came to the United States four years ago was then reopened. [See related extensive interview with Lituma on this page.]

Ignacio Acevedo, a senior organizer with the New York Civil Liberties Union, decried recent deportations, which he said are “breaking the foundation of our families.”

“They take somebody’s mom away, somebody’s sister away. They’re not going by choice,” Acevedo said, adding that mothers are forced to choose between their child and detention. “A mom every single time is going to choose her child, no matter the danger they’re going to face.”

Councilman Ramon Fernandez referenced recent ICE activity in the city and said two local festivals (Peekskill’s Ecuadorian Festival and Hispanic Heritage Festival) were canceled this year due to community members being “terrified.”’

Councilman Ramon Fernandez (right) translates for Amy Lituma (left), wearing an ankle monitor. (Eric Harvey)

Paraphrasing an iconic poem titled First They Came, Fernandez said, “First they went for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out. [Then] they went for the communists and I didn’t speak out. [Then] they went to California and I didn’t speak out. Now they came here to Peekskill but we will speak out.”

Following the rally, members of the press lined up inside the Peekskill Hispanic Community Corp. office to interview Lituma, her words translated by Councilman Fernandez. Lituma sat with an electronic ankle monitor while her child sat in the corner on a phone.

Asked why agents wanted Lituma to self-deport, Lituma said agents did not give her any reason.

In a written statement to Peekskill Herald signed “A/S” (Assistant Secretary), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said, “ICE does not separate families. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement.

“Parents, who are here illegally, can take control of their departure with the CBP [Customs and Border Protection] Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”

Amy Lituma on the Fateful Day that Changed Her Life

(Editor’s note: Peekskill Herald interviewed Amy Lituma several days before the Aug. 11 press conference)

Amy Lituma, who already had a prior deportation order, recounted the timeline of recent events and how she felt cornered into accepting voluntary departure from the United States.

On Tuesday, August 5 at exactly 8 a.m., Lituma was on her way to her appointment to review the precautionary measure—an electronic ankle monitor—imposed by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to track her movements. She arrived at the location, only to be told that it was not the correct place. At 9 a.m., she received a message through the monitoring application directing her to another site. She said she was frightened, confused, and sensed that something was not right.

Upon entering she said she was asked where her son Jack is. Lituma said she suspected it was a trap. She explained to the agents that she “did not know” she was required to bring him, that the boy was at home with a relative, receiving developmental therapy.

Next she was asked about the whereabouts of the child’s father. She replied that she did not know. In the office, she was not pressured to speak further about it, she said. However, Lituma was given two options: purchase a plane ticket to return to Ecuador or be detained immediately.

“It was either leave or be detained,” Lituma said. I was forced to buy the ticket. I told them I would not leave without my son… and they did not let me go until I purchased it,” she recounted.

She said she felt the decision was forced by the circumstances. She insisted that the only wrongdoing on her part was remaining in the country without documentation.

“We live to work, for a different future for my son,” Lituma said. “It was an injustice what they did to me. There are ways to do things and that is not the way we were treated.”

Lituma initially said she planned to continue fighting her case from Ecuador, but she is no longer planning on doing that, according to Dinora Pacheco, president and co-founder of the Peekskill Hispanic Community Corp.

She is also concerned about her husband, Wilmer Delago, who has also sought legal counsel. She said he is unaware of the charges against him but fears [his] being treated as a criminal.

“His greatest fear is that something could happen to us,” Lituma said, “that they would come after us with everything. Now, knowing we will be in Ecuador, he feels more at peace.” For the young mother, returning means immediate safety, but also a broken dream. “It pains me to go back… I came here thinking of a better future for my son. Now, all I want is for this to be resolved and for justice to be done.”

Peekskill Herald staff

About the Contributor

Eric Harvey, News Reporter

Eric Harvey has joined the staff of the Peekskill Herald as a full-time reporter covering a general assignment beat that includes the City of Peekskill and The Board of Education. Harvey, 24, of Stamford, C.T. was a politics and crime reporter most recently at the Bronx Riverdale Press where he was the recipient of a New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest award for a 2023 feature story on the man who co-wrote Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. A graduate of Champlain College in Vermont, Harvey said he likes working in community journalism because it allows for making a difference. “Peekskill is a beautiful and diverse city with rich story potential,” Harvey said. “I look forward to getting to know the community better and shine a spotlight on your needs and interests.”