Separated migrant families sue US

HOUSTON — Eight immigrant families demanded millions of dollars in damages Monday from the Trump administration for separating them, including a Guatemalan woman who alleged an officer said her 5-year-old son would be taken and then taunted her by saying “Happy Mother’s Day.”

In claims filed with the U.S. government Monday, the parents accused immigration officers of taking their children away without giving them information and sometimes mocking them or denying them a chance to say goodbye. The claims allege that many children remain traumatized even after being reunited with their parents, including a 6-year-old boy who is reluctant to eat.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

The Guatemalan woman alleges she was detained in May with her son in a temporary detention facility. The officer who taunted her and three other women told them their children would be taken away and they would be deported, the claim alleges.

The woman says another officer woke her up at about 5 a.m. days later, ordered her to bathe and clothe her son, then took him into another room. The woman says she begged not to have her son taken, then asked that the two be deported together.

“He made fun of her indigenous accent and said, laughingly, ‘it’s not that easy,’” the claim says.

Mother and son were reunited in July and released in November.