Karen Yadira Rodriguez Gutierrez broke down in tears on Saturday when she was reunited with her 11-year-old son at Washington Dulles International Airport. They were seeing each other for the first time in several months.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained the boy for more than six months, after claiming asylum at the border. His mother was already living in Virginia as a legal asylum seeker from Honduras.
The boy had crossed California border with his undocumented grandmother, seeking asylum. “They were seized after presenting at a border entry point,” said a press release from Nexus Services, which provided legal aid to the mother. The two were together for a few days while detained. Detention center officials later separated them.
The reunion took place after Gutierrez filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy, which resulted in thousands of children being separated from their families at the border, sparked widespread outrage this summer.
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