Touching moment immigrant mom is reunited with her son after being freed by judge 

A Brazilian mother who was separated from her nine-year-old son at the US-Mexico border have shared an emotional reunion after a judge freed him.

‘I cried almost every day I wasn’t with my mother,’ said young Diogo De Olivera Filho, through a translator, after seeing his mom for the first time in nearly one month.

Facing reporters together just hours after their first hug since May 30, Lidia Karine Souza, 27, and Diogo wrapped their arms around each other. The boy frequently looked up at his mom and smiled. 

Asked whether she had a message for President Donald Trump about their ordeal and his zero-tolerance policy that separated hundreds of children from their parents, she replied: ‘Don’t do this to the children.’

Big hug: Lidia Karine Souza, 27, cuddles her nine-year-old son Diogo De Olivera Filho as Souza visited her son for the first time since they were separated at the US-Mexico border in late May

Lidia Souza hugs her son Diogo at the Mayer Brown law firm during a news conference shortly after Diogo was reunited with his mother Thursday, June 28, in Chicago

Lidia Souza hugs her son Diogo at the Mayer Brown law firm during a news conference shortly after Diogo was reunited with his mother Thursday, June 28, in Chicago

Mom Lidia Souza smiles and pinches the cheek of her son Diogo at the Mayer Brown law firm during a news conference shortly after the pair were reunited

Mom Lidia Souza smiles and pinches the cheek of her son Diogo at the Mayer Brown law firm during a news conference shortly after the pair were reunited

Good to see you Mom: Federal judge Manish Shah ordered the immediate release from detention of the nine-year-old 

Good to see you Mom: Federal judge Manish Shah ordered the immediate release from detention of the nine-year-old 

The pair were reunited on Thursday after a federal judge in Chicago ordered the US government to release the boy, in one of the first examples of an urgent petition for court intervention successfully reuniting parent and child.

Souza had turned herself and her son into the US authorities at the Texas border and requested asylum, arguing her life was in danger in her native Brazil. 

Officials detained her in Texas and took her son on May 30 without telling her where he would be.

During an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, June 27, in Evanston, Illinois, Lidia Souza cried when describing her ordeal

During an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, June 27, in Evanston, Illinois, Lidia Souza cried when describing her ordeal

Upon her release on June 9, another detained mother who had also been separated from her child told Souza to check a Chicago shelter, and there she tracked down Diogo.  

But as they were allowed no more than weekly 20-minute phone calls, he begged her through tears to get them reunited. 

Souza filled out nearly 40 pages of documents that US officials told her were required to regain custody.

Then they told her that the rules had changed and that she needed any family members living with her in America to be fingerprinted, and to provide further documentation.  

Souza was told that the soonest her boy could be released would be in late July.

During much of his time at the shelter, Souza’s son was alone in a room, quarantined with chickenpox. He spent his ninth birthday on Monday without his mom.

When Souza visited Diogo for the first time since May on Tuesday, they embraced, and she kissed him several times on the head and face, then grabbed his cheeks gently with her hands as they both cried.

‘I missed you so much,’ she said in Portuguese.

Lidia Souza runs her hand through her son Diogo's hair during a news conference shortly after the boy was reunited with his mother

Lidia Souza runs her hand through her son Diogo’s hair during a news conference shortly after the boy was reunited with his mother

Their visit lasted an hour. Then he returned to US government custody before being freed yesterday.

US District Judge Manish Shah mulled his decision for four hours before ordering the government to immediately turn Diogo over to his mom, as he had spent four weeks at the government-contracted shelter.

Shah, who heard arguments Thursday morning, wrote in his ruling that their continued separation ‘irreparably harms them both’.

The fitness of the mother in this case was not questioned, the judge said, so dragging out official processing ‘only serves to interfere in the family’s integrity with little to no benefit to the government’s interests’.

Jesse Bless, an attorney for Souza and her son, described Thursday’s ruling by the judge as unique, adding he hoped it would ‘open the door’ for others to do the same and help hasten a resolution to the crisis.     

Diogo appeared relaxed fielding questions before dozens of TV cameras and reporters at their lawyers’ office in a Chicago high-rise building. 

But he said the days and weeks after he was separated from his mom were difficult: ‘I cried almost every day I wasn’t with my mother.’

The reunion occurred as the White House is under increasing pressure to bring families back together after another judge’s order this week ordered federal officials to do so in 30 days for many parents and children. 

However, critics say the government has no clear plan to reunite them. 

Under Trump’s policy, the government has begun prosecuting all migrants caught entering the country without authorization. 

Trump has halted his policy of taking children from their detained parents under public pressure but around 2,000 of them are still being held, with many families saying they do not know how to locate them.

When asked about advice she would give to others facing similar challenges in getting their kids back, Souza said: ‘Don’t give up, be persistent.’

Souza now lives with relatives outside Boston, where she plans to return with Diogo.

In his three-page ruling, Shah wrote that he understood that the paperwork, filings and forms normally required before the government can release a child into its custody are intended to ensure the child’s well-being. 

But, he said, ‘the government’s interests in completing certain procedures to be sure that (Souza’s child) is placed in a safe environment and in managing the response to ongoing class litigation do not outweigh the family’s interest in reuniting.’

Government attorney Craig Oswald told Shah that US officials have been ‘raked over the coals… before’ for not being thorough about such background checks, which he said are meant to ensure a child’s safety.

The White House is under increasing pressure to bring families back together

The White House is under increasing pressure to bring families back together

For days and weeks now, some of the hundreds of parents separated from their children at the Mexican border by the Trump administration have been battling one of the world’s most complex immigration systems to find their youngsters and get them back.

For many, it has been a lopsided battle, and a frustrating and heartbreaking one.

Most do not speak English, and many know nothing about their children’s whereabouts. And some say their calls to the government’s 1-800 information hotline have gone unanswered.

Children have been sent to shelters all over the United States, thousands of miles from the border. And perhaps hundreds of parents have already been deported from the US without their children.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told reporters on Air Force One that various federal agencies ‘are continuing to work through ensuring that remaining children are reunified with their parents.’ 

When asked if the Health and Human Services Department – the agency that is in charge of reuniting families – will be able to comply with the 30-day deadline, she called on Congress to reform the nation’s immigration system.

Police arrested nearly 600 people Thursday in Washington, D.C., after hundreds of loudly chanting women demonstrated inside a Senate office building against Trump’s immigration policy. 

Among those arrested was Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Democrat from Washington state said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, first lady Melania Trump spent time with children at a complex in Phoenix where dozens of migrant children separated from their parents at the border are being held.

Lidia Souza showed a tattoo ID of her son's name as she told reporters about her ordeal

Lidia Souza showed a tattoo ID of her son’s name as she told reporters about her ordeal



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