A mother from Guatemala who crossed the border and was separated from her child is suing the Trump administration, according to an NBC report.
Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia crossed the border in Arizona on May 19. After two days of being in Border Control custody, she was separated from her son, who is 7.
The mom was then transferred to the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, while her small son was taken to a separate facility.
According to the mom, when she finally talked to her child, her son — much like the children heard in the heartbreaking audio taken at a detention facility — was distressed.
“‘Mama! Mama! Mama!'” she recalled her child as saying on the phone.
De Jesus Mejia-Mejia was only able to speak to her child one time since they were separated. She has since been released on bail.
Her child, however, remains in custody and according to the lawsuit, the government won’t tell her where her child actually is or when she might get him back.
Her lawsuit is asking for the child and mother to be reunited and other remedies. The lawsuit does not ask for the policy to be overturned.
According to her lawyer, John Shoreman the migrant mom’s case “challenges the United States government’s forcible separation of a parent from her young child, notwithstanding the threat of irreparable psychological damage that separation has been universally recognized to cause young children.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
[image via Customs and Border Control]
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