A woman from Guatemala who is seeking asylum in the United States has filed a lawsuit against the administration of President Donald Trump. She alleges that U.S. officials separated her from her seven-year-old son at the international border with Mexico. After speaking with her son on the phone once, she was told that he had been taken into custody by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement in Phoenix, Arizona.
It is worth noting that the Guatemalan national, Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia, does not challenge the overall legality of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy, which until earlier this week led to separating families at the border when the parents are charged with crossing the border illegally or another crime. Her lawsuit seeks only a finding that it was applied wrongly to her and an order reuniting her with her son. She was able to post bond last week and obtain release from immigration custody, but allegedly she has not received any further information about her son since that time.
This case comes on the heels of an announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the U.S. government will start tightening the scope of asylum to exclude victims of domestic abuse or gang violence.
Read more about the lawsuit at Justia’s Dockets site here.