May 6, 2021
The Biden administration has begun reuniting the more than 1,000 migrant families who are still separated due to a Trump-era policy.
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
This is the moment Sandra Ortiz sees her son Bryan in person for the first time in more than three years.
Theirs is one of thousands of families who were separated under a Trump administration policy meant to deter illegal border crossings. It feels like a dream, like I was just in the car and I was like, this is finally happening, said Bryan Chavez, the 18-year-old who was separated from his mother.
Later that night, Keldy Mabel Gonzáles, a mother from Honduras, surprised her sons, Mino and Erick, at a family gathering.
Updated: 10:05 PM CDT May 5, 2021 By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Bryan Chávez carried a bundle of Mother s Day balloons as he headed toward the border.It had been more than three years since the last time he saw his mom in person the day when authorities separated them in 2017. Chávez was 15 at the time, and he feared this moment would never come. Even after he recently learned they d finally be reunited, he couldn t believe it. I was like. am I actually going to see her today or not? Chavez said. Because you never know. I was just in the car and I was just thinking, it just sounds unreal. Chávez and his mom, Sandra Ortíz, were among thousands of migrant families split up during the Trump administration. And this week, they were in the first group of families that the Biden administration said it plans to reunite as part of a new task force s reunification efforts.A video of their dramatic reunion released by advocacy group Families Belong Together shows the
For 18-year-old Bryan Chavez, Tuesday felt like a dream. It was the first time he'd seen his mother in nearly four years after they were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.
CBS News
U.S. begins reuniting families separated under Trump s zero tolerance policy
For 18-year-old Bryan Chavez, Tuesday felt like a dream. It was the first time he d seen his mother in nearly four years after they were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration s zero tolerance policy in 2017.
Chavez spent Tuesday anxiously waiting for his mother, Sandra, at the port of entry in San Ysidro, California, where they reunited.
Seeking a safe haven from Mexican gangs, Bryan, who was 15 at the time, was placed in a refugee shelter while his mother was deported. Finally tonight, a family ripped apart is reunited and mother and son hold each other tight.
SAN DIEGO
More than three years ago, Bryan Chavez hugged his mother inside a U.S. immigration office, terrified that he would never see her again.
“You are not going to see her anymore,” the female U.S. immigration officer told Chavez, according to his account. Then the officer turned to his mother Sandra Ortiz. “And you will go to prison.”
Mother and son were separated. Chavez went to an immigration facility in California. His mother, who didn’t pass an initial asylum screening, was deported to Mexico.
They were among the earliest family separations during the Trump administration, well before splitting families became publicized U.S. policy. More than a thousand families remain separated, but the long ordeal for Chavez and his mom is finally over.