GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A Central American man hoping for asylum in the U.S. says the nightmare is over. For now.
“It was almost three and a half months,” says Ever Reyes Mejia. “Honestly, it was a nightmare. It was very painful.”
After a 14-week separation from his son Reyes Mejia of Honduras, Reyes Mejia and his three-year-old were reunited this week in Grand Rapids.
They pair was arrested after crossing the border in Texas to ask for asylum. Four days later his son was taken and brought to Grand Rapids for placement in foster care through Bethany Christian Services. Reyes Mejia remained in custody. Father and son were reunited Tuesday in Grand Rapids, after a judge gave the government a deadline to return all separated immigrant children under age five to their parents.
“He jumped at me and started crying, just inconsolable crying,” says Reyes Mejia. “I’ve dedicated myself to showing him love and being with him every minute I can, so he can return to who he was before.”
Reyes Mejia has a wife who later crossed the border with their 5-month-old daughter. He and their son are in Michigan, the wife and daughter are in Texas. They are all waiting for the courts to decide if they can have asylum in the United States.
“It is far from over,” explains his ACLU immigration attorney Abril Valdes. “Our goal is to reunite them with his wife and have the family be a family again and keep fighting his immigration case.”
Reyes Mejia has an immigration hearing scheduled next week in Detroit to help determine if he can stay in the U.S.
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