With mom in ICE custody, a Massachusetts stepdad steps up

“It may not seem like it, but I’m ruined emotionally,” he said.

Arrest and charges

Gurfinkiel is among scores of people across Massachusetts in mixed status families, scrambling to fill the shoes of a parent swept up by federal immigration police.

Nearly 9 in 10 people arrested by ICE are men, so mothers are often left caring for kids.

But amid a massive ramp-up in enforcement under President Trump’s latest term, more fathers, grandparents, siblings — and stepparents like Gurfinkiel — are assuming the role of primary caretaker.

Gurfinkiel said he and Tinoco moved to the Boston area last spring, shortly after marrying in Miami.

"I’m like the mom and the dad now. I'm the only one they can trust and ask things of."

He said he never imagined himself taking on the role of both parents. “I don’t know how to be a father,” he sighed.

Case background

He’s 33, from Argentina, she’s 29, from Ecuador, and her two kids are from a previous relationship.