Opinion: Devastating separations continue for families seeking asylum, with dire health consequences
Maria was 37 weeks pregnant — at full term — when Customs and Border Protection officers separated her from her husband, Alejandro, after they arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum, fleeing violence in Honduras. (I am using pseudonyms here to protect individual’s identities.) Alejandro was returned to Mexico to await his asylum hearing, but he was kidnapped there and held for ransom. Maria wasn’t sure if their family could pay to set him free.
Their baby would likely be born while Alejandro and Maria were apart; she was terrified that their baby might never meet his father.
