PLATTE CITY, Mo. -- After more than a month and a half apart, Syed Jamal's family visited him on Sunday.
Syed Jamal was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in January.
Jamal is now being detained at the Platte County Jail.
His wife, three kids, and brother tried to visit him last Sunday but were too late to get in.
Jamal gets one 30 minute visitation a week, this is the first time he was able to see and speak with his family. The session was split in half so everyone could see him.
Visits for a civil detainee at the Platte County Jail are no contact, so his wife, children, and brother spoke to him over a phone while looking at him through a glass window.
"I just want my dad to come home so I can actually talk to him instead of it just being really awkward and sad," said Naheen Jamal, Syed's 12-year-old daughter.
The visit, not quite what Naheen was hoping for when she came to see her dad.
"It’s really weird talking to someone on the phone because you don’t know what to say but when they’re at home it’s easier to talk to them," said Naheen.
Her older brother Taseen says he doesn't really know how to feel. "I just really need my dad back and so does my brother and my sister," he said.
Jamal's brother, Syed Hussain Jamal, says the situation has been very emotional on the children," It’s a tough situation as you can imagine having 14, 12 and 7-year-old kids dealing with this at this time."
Jamal's brother says he can tell confinement is taking its toll, "Well he’s lost some weight but he’s in okay spirit. He’s not the type of guy to sit in one place he’s the type of guy that reads and writes a lot so it’s very difficult for him because he cannot."
He's hoping these visits don't become the new normal, "I’m hoping we only have to do it for one more Sunday and hopefully ICE comes to its senses and do the right thing and unite a family back together."
If ICE decides to put Jamal back on supervision he will be released.
If not, Jamal will stay detained at least until his hearing on March 20th.
