Watch a mother's horrible realization of her 3-year-old son's trauma from Trump's family separation policy
"My love, I'm your mommy," a Honduran mother pleads with her squirming 3-year-old son as they are reunited after three and a half months of separation by the Trump administration's discontinued policy of splitting up migrant families.
The moment of reunion is shown in a gutting video released by the ACLU. The boy refuses eye contact, crawling away from his crying mom. "What's wrong with my son?" she asks her husband. "My son is traumatized."
As the ACLU report accompanying the video explains, the Reyes-Mejia family (a pseudonymous name for the sake of safety) came to the U.S. from Honduras to escape spiking violent crime. They did not enter the country illegally but presented themselves at a border crossing facility to seek asylum.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The father, Ever, was told he could briefly leave his son alone at a detention facility while he completed some paperwork. When he returned, the boy was gone. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had shipped him to foster care in Michigan.
Because the boy is just 3 years old, the Reyes-Mejia family was given priority for reunification when the family separation policy was shut down. His response at reunification with his mother is emblematic of the "traumatic psychological injury" mental health experts warned the separations would produce, especially for young children.
As of Thursday, the ACLU says, 528 migrant children remain separated from their families in federal custody.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
The government's growing concern over a potential US Steel takeover
In the Spotlight Japan's largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel, is attempting to buy the company
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Finger-prickin' good: Are simpler blood tests seeing new life years after Theranos' demise?
Today's Big Question One Texas company is working to bring these tests back into the mainstream
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Cop benched after NFL star handcuffed in traffic stop
Speed Read A Miami-Dade police officer detained Dolphins star Tyreek Hill before the game
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
A brief history of third parties in the US
In Depth Though none of America's third parties have won a presidential election, they have nonetheless had a large impact on the country's politics
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Netanyahu makes controversial address
Speed Reads Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress denounced Gaza war protestors
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Menendez convicted of bribery, fraud, and extortion
Speed Read The New Jersey Democratic Senator was found guilty in a federal corruption trial
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Florida judge dismisses Trump documents case
Speed Read Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Hamas says military chief survived Israeli strike
Speed Read An Israeli bombing failed to hit its intended target, military commander Mohammed Deif, but killed at least 90 Palestinians
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
First Israeli report on Oct. 7 finds 'severe mistakes and errors' in IDF response
Speed Reads Israeli military admits failures in response to deadly Hamas attack that triggered Gaza war
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published