For months, I have been reporting on separated immigrant families and looking into kids who remain separated. Last month, I learned about a father who was separated from his 6-year-old daughter and then deported back to Honduras without her. They remain separated to this day.
Misael Ponce Herrera and his 6-year-old daughter, Marianita, left their home in Honduras to try to immigrate to the U.S. Misael says they were fleeing violence and poverty. But after illegally crossing into Texas in June, the two were taken into custody by US officials. 
Misael & Marinita were held at an immigration detention center near McAllen, Texas, for about a week. Misael says, one morning, immigration officials came to take Misael to court & said, “When you get back you'll see your daughter." So Marianita hugged & kissed him goodbye.
They have not seen each other since Misael left for that court appearance in June. Days later, Misael says he was pressured into signing a deportation order. He was deported soon after without his daughter. Marianita remains in an immigration shelter in NY.
Between April and June, more than 2,500 immigrant children were forcibly separated from adults w/ them as they tried to enter the U.S. More than 1,900 children have been reunited w/ their parents and about 200 have been sent to sponsors such as family members living in the U.S.
Misael is one of 414 parents that the Trump administration deported without their children under the president’s zero-tolerance policy. So far, 21 children have been reunited with their parents in their home countries. These may be the toughest families to reunite.
The number of reunions abroad is small because the Trump administration has done little to help deported parents, according to some immigration advocates. Many parents were flown back to capital cities and then returned to rural villages, where they are often hard to reach.
Misael has tried to come to the U.S. three times to escape poverty and violence. Violence in Honduras “ is tough,” he said. “In a month, there were 5 deaths around here. Children see that, they hear about these things. All these things make us leave in search for new horizons.”
Shortly after they were separated, immigration officials informed Marianita’s aunt in Ohio that they had the little girl. But it was weeks before a social worker contacted Ana, Marianita’s mother in Honduras, and told her that her daughter was in a shelter.
In Misael’s case, @TXCivilRights is providing his family legal help to try to get Marianita back to Honduras. Efren Olivares, the group’s racial and economic justice director, called family separations a "cruel and misguided policy."
Back in Honduras, Marianita’s family is desperate for answers. In the 6-year-old’s room, reminders of the absent little girl are everywhere. “It's something tough, for her to be so far from me and without us,” Misael said.
When Marianita’s mom, Ana, in Honduras talks to her daughter, the little girl cries and asks to be taken away from the NY immigration shelter where she is being held. “She always tells me she doesn't want to be there anymore," Ana said. "I tell her to wait and wait."
