1/ More than 300 migrant children remain separated from parents who were already deported.
This is the story of one family. Meet David Xol and his 7-year-old son, Bryon.
They were separated nearly 3 months ago. They remain apart.
NEW with @nomadagt. trib.it/l3
2/ In May, Xol and his son travelled here through Mexico in a wooden crate in the back of a tractor trailer — for three days.
They had an apple apiece.
They swallowed pills that kept them from defecating. trib.it/l3
3/ At a processing center, Xol was separated from his son.
“Don’t worry, son, it’s all part of the journey,” he said.
But Xol would remain separated from Byron.
trib.it/l3
4/ But immigration officials informed Xol that under “the new law signed by President Donald Trump,” he wouldn’t see his son again anytime soon.
Instead of staying with his father, Bryon would stay in the BCFS facility for immigrant minors in Baytown.
trib.it/l3
5/ Xol begged to be kept with his son.
When officials wouldn’t budge, he signed a form the Americans described to him as his own deportation order — all of it written in English, which he doesn’t understand. trib.it/l3
6/ Now, Xol remains separated from his 7-year-old son. By more than 1,000 miles.
It’s been nearly three months. trib.it/l3
7/ In his first calls home, Byron cried.
Now he's just angry.
"If I am your son, find a way to come and get me out," he told his father recently.
"My son has started to hate me," Xol said. "He said, 'Why did you leave me? Am I not your son?'"
trib.it/l3
8/ The Trump administration rolled back the zero-tolerance policy in June.
Then the country’s attention drifted away from the crisis, as hundreds of immigrant families reunited.
But hundreds of children remain separated. trib.it/l3
9/ A judge said earlier this month: “For every parent who is not located, there will be a permanently orphaned child." trib.it/l3
10/ Xol said he brought his son with him on the advice of a local smuggler, who told him that parents with children have an easier time getting into the country than adults traveling solo.
He hoped to enroll his son in school in the U.S. trib.it/l3
11/ Not everyone in their group survived the journey North. At one point, Xol heard screams from the other crates.
A woman had suffocated. trib.it/l3
12/ But when Xol arrived in America with his son, he says "I felt hope."
"But nothing went as it was planned." trib.it/l3
13/ How long it will take the authorities to get Byron back with his family remains anyone’s guess.
"There’s still no clear indication of the government’s willingness to do this."
trib.it/l3
14/ The case was at a standstill until late last week, when @MichaelAvenatti and his Laredo-based associate, civil rights attorney Ricardo De Anda, agreed to represent the family. trib.it/l3
15/ But for now, Byron remains in the shelter in Texas.
He turned 8 in June. But he didn't celebrate it.
"No, no," he said on a recent call home. "Here I didn’t have a birthday."
trib.it/l3
16/16 This story was done by partnering, sharing resources and reporting with @nomadagt. Read their story here.
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