Reunited families staying at Annunciation House; Guatemalan woman still waiting for brother

A Central American father and daughter were reunited in El Paso Thursday night after they were separated on May 11, 2018.

Oscar and his daughter, of Honduras, arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum. They were separated after spending a day together in custody. Oscar knew very little about his daughter and says he was told he would be freed soon but what followed was a series of transfers from facility to facility.

“We were chained when they would move us from facility to facility, some good and some bad,” the father said.

Oscar’s daughter said she was never mistreated while in custody of immigration officials, but still felt very lonely. “I never expected this,” the daughter said, “Being separated from my father was very difficult. I felt very sad when I was in custody.”

Both were reunited Thursday, just hours before a court-imposed deadline to reunify parents with their children over the age of five.

The Department of Health and Human Services, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, announced Friday they successfully met the deadline and reunited nearly 1,800 families. The federal agencies, however, admitted they were unable to reunify around 700 families for various reasons. Officials said they will meet with the judge who ordered the reunification to see what steps need to be followed.

An immigrant mother and her four-year-old son were also reunited Thursday evening, more than two weeks after a July 10th court-ordered deadline to reunite parents with children under the age of five passed.

Franco, 4, arrived arrived at the El Paso International Airport for a tearful reunion with his mother Maria. The mother and son were separated when they arrived to the U.S. from Guatemala seeking asylum. Officials with an El Paso immigrant shelter known as the Annunciation House said the delay was due to Maria being held in ICE custody until recently.

Friday, Maria described what it was like when she was separated from her son. I felt I could no longer live. I felt I was going to die. But now, thank God, my son is with me,” the woman said.

While parents like Oscar and Maria are grateful they have been reunited with their children, a 28-year-old mother from Guatemala is still waiting to be reunited with her 13-year-old brother. Martina held back tears as she described her ordeal. “When he spoke with me, he was crying a lot,” said Martina, describing a recent conversation with her brother. Martina was told she has not been reunited with the boy because he is not her son and because she did not have a job. The boy is being housed in a shelter in Arizona.

Social workers at the Annunciation House said the reasoning does not make sense, given Maria was reunited with her son even though she does not have a job. “It’s that kind of inconsistencies … the result of a policy that was never thought out,” said Ruben Garcia, with the Annunciation House.

“I do not believe this is going to end,” Garcia said regarding the separation of families at the border. Garcia said those most susceptible to being separated will be parents who are unable to provide documentation proving they are indeed the parent of the child they brought to the U.S.