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Nearly three months ago, immigration officials falsely accused an asylum-seeker who was fleeing gang violence of MS-13 membership in order to justify stealing his two young children from him at the southern border. On that day, officials handed over no evidence proving that the dad, identified as “Mr. A” in court documents, was a gang member. Nearly three months later, they still haven’t.
“He hasn’t seen them in the nearly three months since,” Reveal’s Laura Morel reports, “even though the government hasn’t offered any proof of his gang membership. Mr. A’s lawyers have compiled a stack of evidence to the contrary,” including documentation from El Salvador’s government showing he has no criminal record. His team has even submitted a shirtless picture of him on the beach, showing he has no tattoos that could even remotely suggest gang affiliation. Officials are refusing to budge, and it’s taking its toll.
Reveal reports that Mr. A has grown “increasingly despondent and withdrawn” throughout the three months of separation, that he has lost “more than 20 pounds and has frequent nightmares and depression.” Mr. A also failed his credible-fear interview, but experts say this has been the case for other asylum-seekers who have suffered the trauma of having their kids stolen from them at the border.
While the Trump administration was court ordered last summer to stop family separation at the border, border officials have used a loophole in that ruling to tear at least 80 kids from families, allegedly “due to criminal activity or gang affiliation by the adults.” In December, officials returned a four-year-old to an asylum seeker after separating them for months over false gang ties. “He feels skinnier to me,” Julio said, embracing Brayan at a Texas airport. “Isn’t he beautiful?”
Mr. A and his two children, aged 11 and nine, are also waiting for that chance to be together once again. “The emotional and mental trauma is severe for both kids,” said Laura Peña, his attorney. “The harm is being done every day.” Tuesday, Jan. 29, marks 187 days past a federal judge’s reunification deadline, but children stolen from families at the southern border are still in U.S. custody. Family separation remains a crisis.
