Mother, 9-year-old son separated after fleeing Brazil for United States

A mother and her nine-year-old son were separated after fleeing Brazil for the United States.

When Lidia Souza fled Brazil with her son to seek asylum, she was jailed after presenting herself at the United States border in Texas, and her son was taken from her.

Souza has since been released, but her only child remains in the custody of the United States government.

Souza can only speak with her son, Diogo, twice a week by phone.

"He's just crying every single time we talk on the phone," Souza said.

Souza recently learned Diogo is being held at a federal facility for migrant children in Chicago.

"He got chicken pox, he was isolated for nine days in a room by himself, away from everybody else," Souza said. "Put a gate up so he couldn't leave the room, or come in contact with any other child."

More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents as a part of President Donald Trump's zero tolerance policy for migrants at the southern border.

Trump ended the crackdown on Wednesday, without a mechanism for reuniting kids currently in custody.

"First, they implemented a zero tolerance policy without a method to reunify, and now they've stripped it," Jesse Bless, senior litigation counsel at the Law Offices of Jeff Goldman. "Lost in the shuffle are the victims, which are the children and parents."

Paralegal Luana Mazon has been speaking to the Department of Health and Human Services on Souza's behalf.

One case worker told her they would need fingerprints from everyone at the Cape Cod home where Souza is staying if Diogo was going to be sent there.

"I just feel like they are inconsistent with their own program," Mazon said. "They don't really know what they're doing."

Souza passed an initial asylum screening, and she's been allowed to remain in the country while her case is considered.

Cox Media Group