Cicero, Illinois — The Sunday morning dawned clear and blue, a perfect day for a birthday celebration. The Enciso family split up in their Chicago suburb – the parents and the eldest son were stopping at a store and then getting breakfast, while the older sister took her siblings to a donut shop for her little brother’s birthday treat. A cheerful day changed suddenly when their parents were taken into custody by immigration authorities on September 14, leaving Moises Enciso Jr., his sister Yurithsi Enciso and their younger siblings to pick up the pieces. It’s been over a month, but for the children of Constantina Ramirez and Moises Enciso, immigrants who came to the United States from Mexico about 18 years ago, it feels like it happened yesterday. As tensions across the country escalate between federal officers enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration hardline and demonstrators fighting the crackdown, the plight of the Enciso children offers a glimpse at the upheaval faced by those left behind. The family’s home in Cicero, less than 10 miles outside Chicago, is eerily dark and still these days, according to the two eldest children. At the dinner table, two chairs are always empty. Gone is the music their mother played as she tidied up around the home. They miss their dad – a social butterfly and early riser – watching and laughing along to loud Facebook videos. “Those sounds are gone now,” Moises Enciso Jr., a 22-year-old college student, told CNN. “It feels like a bad dream to not have them around, it just doesn’t feel right, the house feels very dark. It feels like there is a hole that the family is falling into,” Moises Jr. said in a statement after his parents’ arrest. Yurithsi, 19, recalled wanting to sleep in her parents’ bedroom the night of their detention. She sought comfort in the things that reminded her of them. “If I was sleeping there, I had a part of them,” she said. “And I felt a little safe.” Yurithsi arrived at the scene shortly after her parents and older brother were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the side of the road. She recorded the moment in a cell phone video – one of many such videos circulating on the web, capturing ICE and other federal officers roaming the streets of US cities making arrests, sometimes pulling up to people walking on a street, driving their kids to school or busy at work. In the video, her siblings – 12-year-old Jasmin and 10-year-old Kevin – cried as their parents and brother sat handcuffed in ICE vehicles. “Your brother, is he a US citizen?” a masked federal officer asked Yurithsi, referring to Moises Jr., who was in a car with his parents at the time of the traffic stop. The officers asked the same question over and over, Yurithsi told CNN. She refused to answer them. “I believe they should have known if they were US citizens … He should have known before detaining them,” she said. “We don’t answer questions,” Yurithsi, whose family attorney said is wary of ICE agents, told the officer. “Look at what you’re doing.” “Don’t cry, OK,” she reassured her sobbing siblings. “It’s fine. We’re fine.” In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE did not “pressure” the children to answer questions. Ramirez and Enciso both “illegally entered the U.S. on an unknown date and were not encountered by border patrol or ICE prior to September 14,” according to McLaughlin’s statement. “They will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” the statement said. “If they have a valid claim, it will be heard by a judge. If not, they will be subject to removal.” A CNN review of court records found no criminal history for either parent. Moises Jr. and Yurithsi are awaiting approval for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival status, or DACA, family attorney Shelby Vcelka said. Jasmin and Kevin are US citizens, according to the family. ‘I didn’t know anybody to call’ The morning of the stop, Enciso made a turn where he wasn’t supposed to, and unmarked vehicles surrounded the family car. Officers stood at the driver and passenger side windows, Moises Jr. recalled, and peppered the family with questions: Are you from here? Can we see your driver’s license? Are you an American citizen? Enciso looked at his son nervously. “What should I do,” he asked. Ramirez told her husband not to answer questions. She pleaded with the officers: “I’m sorry … We’re not doing anything wrong,” Moises Jr. told CNN. Enciso handed over his driver’s license, and the officer asked him to step out of the car. He was immediately handcuffed. The officers asked Moises Jr. if he is a US citizen and he refused to answer. Moises Jr. and his mother were also handcuffed, the son said. Yurithsi was at a Dunkin’ buying her little brother his favorite milkshake for his birthday. Moises Jr. called to tell her the three had been detained by ICE. “I froze,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what to do. My legs started shaking. I went numb. And then my little siblings were like, ‘Yuri, what’s happening?’” “We’re going to figure this out,” she assured the children. At the traffic stop, Moises Jr. said, seeing his parents detained “didn’t feel real.” “Seeing them handcuffed like broke my heart because my mom is a gentle woman. Seeing her unable to move and like the marks that the handcuffs are doing on her wrists, to me that just didn’t seem fair,” he said. Before taking her parents and brother away, a federal officer handed Yurithsi the keys to the family’s car, leaving her to figure out how to get home with two cars and her younger siblings in tow. “I felt alone,” she said, tearfully. “I didn’t know anybody to call. Like my biggest support system has always been my mom and dad and my brother.” Moises Jr. said officers then took him and his parents to a police station parking lot and questioned them. The agents released Moises Jr. after two hours, when they saw he had a pending DACA application, he said, but his parents were taken into custody. Now at home, Yurithsi and Moises Jr. have stepped into their parents’ role as caretakers. Jasmin and Kevin haven’t been sleeping well. They often mention their parents at the dinner table and then become sad and quiet. “They’re not the same,” Yurithsi said. As the days without their parents pass, their worries grow. “I try not to think about it,” Moises Jr. said about the possibility of his parents missing graduations and other milestones, rubbing tears out of his eyes. Yurithsi and Moises Jr. recalled the sacrifices their parents made to come to the US, building a peaceful life with their children over the years. Enciso was always first out of bed in the morning. He enjoyed tending to his small backyard garden. “This year he planted peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and tried his best to grow corn,” Moises Jr. wrote in a statement. “He cuts up the pepinos he plants and prepares them for us. He also planted marigolds for us to use in a shrine for his dad who passed away.” Each morning, their mother opened a window to let the sun shine on her collection of plants. Ramirez liked to exercise at home and tried to get her children to eat healthy. “My mom is very into her faith. She sends our siblings prayers on Whatsapp every morning telling us to have a nice day,” according to Moises Jr.’s statement. Their father worked long days in construction and proudly shared photos of his latest projects with his family on their group chat. The kids and their parents also swapped photos of their lunches. “Now it’s like nobody’s texting,” Moises Jr. said. Ramirez and Enciso are being held at separate detention centers in Kentucky and Michigan. They’re due back in court on October 22. Jasmin and Kevin were able to visit their parents, Vcelka said. “Moises’ detention facility allowed them to spend about an hour and a half with him, played board games with him, and allowed physical contact,” the attorney said. “Constantina’s detention facility gave the children about half an hour and did not allow physical contact. They had to see Constantina behind a glass.” Moises Jr. said that if the same ICE agents who detained his parents had met them at a block party “they would not see what they think they see.” “They would see a kind dad who would offer them food,” he said. “They would see a mom who would (ask them if) they ate already. They would see kind humans who care for their family. They would just see like a regular neighbor.” Asked what happens if his parents are deported, Moises Jr. paused and looked down sadly. “We don’t know … There’s just a lot of insecurity or uncertainty that we just don’t know,” he said finally. Moments later, he broke down and removed his glasses to wipe away tears. Maria Santana reported from Cicero, Illinois, and Ray Sanchez reported and wrote from New York.