The Heartache of a Migrant Boy Taken From His Father

When he landed in Michigan in late May, all the little boy carried was a trash bag stuffed with dirty clothes from his dayslong trek across Mexico, and two small pieces of paper — one a stick-figure drawing of his family from Honduras, the other a sketch of his father, who had been arrested and led away after they arrived at the United States border in El Paso, Texas.

An American government escort handed over the 5-year- old child, identified on his travel documents as José, to the American woman whose family was entrusted with caring for him. He refused to take her hand. He did not cry. He was silent on the ride “home.”

The first few nights, he cried himself to sleep. Then it turned into “just moaning and moaning,” said Janice, his foster mother. He recently slept through the night for the first time, though he still insists on tucking the family pictures under his pillow.

José’s separation from his father is part of the United States’ most widely debated border enforcement policy. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the government would criminally prosecute anyone who crossed the border illegally, a directive that is leading to the breakup of hundreds of migrant families and channeling children into shelters and foster homes across the country.

In just the first two weeks under President Donald J. Trump’s new policy, 638 parents who arrived with 658 children had been prosecuted, administration officials told Congress.

Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, said separating families was not the aim but merely