Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.

KPCC Archive

One migrant teen waited three months to be reunited with her parents after border separation

FILE: Detained immigrant children line up in the cafeteria at a temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border, in Karnes City, Texas.

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

Listen 2:01
One migrant teen waited three months to be reunited with her parents after border separation

More than a month after a court-ordered deadline to reunite families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under President Trump's zero tolerance border enforcement policy, some 500 children remain apart from their parents.

The majority of these remaining children, nearly 350 of them, are in the U.S. alone after their parents were deported without them. 

One of them was Sandy, a 16-year-old girl whose father was deported back to Guatemala after they were detained at the border in May. She had lived in a federal shelter since their separation.

Her parents in Guatemala said they desperately wanted her back. But the process to get her returned was a slow one. She appeared before a Los Angeles immigration judge recently, eager to return home and asked to leave voluntarily.

Even with the judge's approval, she was told she couldn't return until early September. Then she learned her flight home had been moved up and she returned to her family this week.

This story has been updated.

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today