NewsNational News

Actions

Mother reunited with daughter in Tennessee after being separated at border for six weeks

Posted at 7:37 PM, Jul 12, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-13 11:02:31-04

A child who had been separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexican border for six weeks was reunited with her mother at the Nashville International Airport Thursday.

The reunion of Albertina Contreras and her daughter Yakelyn was full of emotion expressed through songs and chants. The two were apprehended at the southern border in Texas in May after traveling from their native Guatemala and have been in federal custody since.

Officials with the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition set up a press conference, allowing the mother to express her joy and gratitude.

"This is an injustice, what they have done. I wish for a change," the mother said.

Many families have been reunited since President Trump signed an executive order to end the practice of separating families at the U.S.' southern border.

Nearly 3,000 children between the ages of five and 17 remain separated from their parents.

President Trump has weighed in on the issue, saying quote, "very simply, we have laws, we have borders. A country cannot exist without secure borders."