Protesters press on as parents voice anguish

WASHINGTON: Central American migrants deported from the United States without their children spoke of their anguish at seeing their families split under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” approach, as protesters kept up the pressure against the “barbaric” policy.

Benjamin Raymundo, a 33-yearold who was deported back to Guatemala, said he left his home country in April with his five-yearold son Roberto, but the pair were separated when they were stopped in California.

A brother-in-law who lives in the United States and a lawyer managed to find the child’s whereabouts and the boy was eventually placed in this relative’s custody.

“It’s a great sadness for me, as if I’ll never see my son again,” he said.

Raymundo has no plans to return to the United States, but he hopes his son will be granted asylum.

Democratic lawmakers kept up the pressure, with roughly two dozen of them visiting a detention facility where children are held.

California congressman Barbara Lee said: “The children especially are traumatised.”

She called Trump’s immigration policy “barbaric”.

Protest marches were scheduled over the weekend in several cities, and advocacy groups called for a nationwide “Families Belong Together” protest on June 30. — AFP