SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) - The Latest on a family reuniting in Honduras after being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border (all times local):
5:05 p.m.
A baby who came to symbolize the U.S. government’s policy of separating immigrant families didn’t recognize his parents at first when they reunited in Honduras.
Adalicia Montecinos cried Friday, saying her son, Johan, “suffered everything that we have been suffering.”
The 15-month-old boy arrived in Honduras five months after being separated from his father at the Texas border. Johan’s father was deported and the boy remained in U.S. custody at an Arizona shelter.
The boy’s case triggered international uproar when The Associated Press detailed his appearance in a U.S. courtroom.
Johan soon warmed to his parents Friday, laughing as he received kisses outside a center where they finished final legal paperwork before heading home.
Montecinos said she couldn’t be happier to have her son back but she’s also angry she was kept from her son for months.
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2:25 p.m.
A baby who was separated from his father at the Texas border five months ago is back with his family in Honduras.
Johan Bueso Montecinos arrived in San Pedro Sula on Friday and was reunited with his parents on a government bus. They were taken away for processing.
The 15-month-old became the embodiment of the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant children from their parents when The Associated Press detailed his appearance in a U.S. courtroom.
Captured by Border Patrol agents almost instantly upon arrival, Johan’s father was deported and the boy remained in U.S. custody at an Arizona shelter.
Over the next five months, he would take his first steps, speak his first words and have his first birthday. His parents would miss it all.
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12:45 p.m.
A Honduran man who was separated from his baby son at the Texas border and then deported without him soon will hold the boy again.
The 15-month-old became the embodiment of the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant children from their parents when The Associated Press detailed his appearance in a U.S. courtroom.
Months after the separation that drew international outrage, the family was expected to be reunited Friday in Honduras.
Johan Bueso Montecinos was on a jet bound for San Pedro Sulas from the United States, after Honduran consular officials and U.S. authorities worked out arrangements.
And so ended the extraordinary journey of a baby whose short life has ranged from Honduran poverty to a desperate dash across the U.S. border to the front pages of the world’s newspapers.
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