Honduran mother in El Paso applauds Trump’s executive order

Many groups are applauding President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order to stop family separations, including an immigrant mother from Honduras detained when she came to the U.S. with her six-year-old son.

The woman, who asked ABC-7 to call her Martha, did not want to use her real name. The 22-year-old says she and her son were detained after crossing the Rio Grande. Martha says no one she traveled with was aware children were being taken from their parents, but that she was lucky enough to keep her son with her.

She is applauding Trump’s decision to let families stay together. “Yes, it’s good, that they don’t do that. Many parents, or families, they suffer. They did that to many people, actually, they took their children away. Many women I traveled with had their children taken away,” said Martha.

The mother says she would not have come to the U.S. had she known children were being taken away from parents at the border. When asked why she came to the US, Martha said work conditions were very bad in her home country.

As many as 125 Central American migrants are expected to arrive at St. Ignatius Church, where Martha was staying. The mother, together with her 6-year-old son, was taken to another center while she waits for a decision on her immigration status.

The president’s executive order came on the same day a group of local superintendents protested the separation of families at the Tornillo port of entry.

“If we can keep the children with their parents, then we’ll be doing the right thing,” said Armando Aguirre with Region 19.

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