Migrant child who first walked in detention didn’t recognize parents at reunion: report

A now 1-year-old child who was separated from his father at the U.S.-Mexico border reportedly did not recognize his parents upon being reunited with his family after months in a U.S. detention facility.

Johan Bueso Montecinos, who was separated from his family for five months after being detained separately from his father, Rolando Antonio Bueso Castillo, reportedly didn’t recognize either of his parents upon first being reunited, The Associated Press reported.

The family was reunited in Honduras on Friday.

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“I kept saying Johan, Johan, and he started to cry,” his mother, Adalicia Montecinos, told the AP.

“I never thought they could be so cruel,” his father added.

Johan Bueso Montecinos made headlines previously after he appeared in court alone, in diapers, causing an immigration judge to remark that he was “embarrassed” to ask if the boy could understand the court proceedings.

“I’m embarrassed to ask it, because I don’t know who you would explain it to, unless you think that a 1-year-old could learn immigration law,” the judge at the immigration hearing said.

The child, who is now with his entire family in Honduras, took his first steps and said his first words while being housed at an immigrant shelter in the U.S.

Castillo told the AP that the Trump administration was wrong to imprison his son, who had committed no crime, for weeks after his father was deported.

“They broke something in me over there,” he said. “This was never my son’s fault. Why did he have to be punished?”

The Trump administration had until July 10 to reunite immigrant children under the age of 5 with their parents, but did not complete all possible reunifications until two days after the deadline. The administration is now working to reunite all detained immigrant children between the ages of 5 and 17 by a July 26 deadline.

“The reunifications are happening very rapidly, which is good. A big bloc will be reunified in a timely manner,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said Friday. “It really does appear there’s been great progress.”