Two immigrant children reunited with their parents after they were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border are now enjoying their newfound freedom in Connecticut, according to attorneys for the children.
The children are a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador, publicly identified as V.F.B., and a 9-year-old boy from Honduras, identified as J.S.R. The girl traveled to the U.S. with her mother, the boy with his father. The children had been staying in a group home in Groton, while their parents had been in a detention center in Texas.
Josh Perry, one of the attorneys representing the children, said, “As I drove the highway yesterday with 14-year-old V.F.B. and her mother, her mother looked out over the green hills of Connecticut, took a deep breath and said it is beautiful to be free.”
Immigration authorities agreed to release the parents on Monday after a federal judge in Bridgeport ruled their separation was unconstitutional.
Muneer Ahmad, another attorney representing the children, said, “We’re delighted to share that after weeks and months of forcible separation, these kids and their parents are back together as they belong. They’re out of detention, and they’re beginning the long process of recovery from the deep trauma that the Trump administration’s so-called zero tolerance policy has inflicted upon them.”
A child psychiatrist at Yale University diagnosed both children with post-traumatic stress disorder. Governor Dannel Malloy spoke at Yale Law School alongside the children’s legal team.
“What’s going on as a matter of the United States policy is nothing short of political sadism. It was designed to inflict pain on children and parents to receive joy. The joy that they thought they would get is this would stop people from coming to our borders seeking a refugee status.”
Attorneys didn’t give specifics on where the families are, but Perry said they’ve been resting and spending a lot of time together.
The parents are part of a class action case in California in which a judge required the government to reunite families by July 26. Attorneys for the children say it’s uncertain whether or not the families could still be deported.
