Earlier this week, Jocelyn and her 14-year-old son James got to hug for the first time since last August. Asylum-seekers from Brazil, they hadn’t been able to see each other for more than nine months after they were torn apart at the U.S./Mexico border by the Trump administration. Bob Moore, border journalist for The Washington Post, was at El Paso International Airport to record the reunion:
Jocelyn smiled the moment she saw saw James descending an airport escalator, walking toward him as he approached the landing.
The mother shed tears of joy as she embraced her son.
The family is a part of an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the Trump administration, launched on behalf of other vulnerable families who have been separated by barbaric policy tearing kids and parents apart at the border, affecting teens like James and babies as young as 53 weeks alike.
But while Jocelyn was eventually released and has been living in a West Texas shelter, her son remained detained. She said she was able to speak to him only once a week and that she had “grown even more worried because his case officer informed her they are medicating him to help his nerves,” which was done without her consent.
Finally, this week, they were reunited. She signed paperwork for him, after tearfully hugging the overwhelmed teen. “I thank God a lot for giving us this opportunity that he is free,” she said. “It was a long wait, but now he is with us.”