A Brazilian mother who was separated from her son May 30 at the U.S. border is speaking out after she was reunited with her son at Logan Airport Saturday.
The mother and child, who are identified by the initials W.R. and A.R. respectively, were separated at the border after requesting asylum.
After having her son taken from her, the mother, speaking through a translator at a press conference at the Brazilian Worker Center in Allston, said she was locked up.
"I was put in a cage," she said. "I was treated as an animal. They handcuffed me and they took my son apart."
Her son spent 45 days in a Texas facility. The mother says they're fleeing an abusive relationship back in Brazil and still have to formally file for asylum.
"It's not over yet," she said. "I still have to go through court and through a process. This nightmare does not end yet."
The two are now staying with family in the Boston area.
Even though they appeared on camera, Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, who is with the Lawyer's Committee and is representing the mother and child, said they're withholding their full names for their protection.
"So it's not just the stigma of having the son identified in the community, but it's also for her physical safety," he said.
While W.R. and A.R. were reunited after an emergency hearing in a federal court, the same can't be said for other separated families.
A majority of the nearly 3,000 children who were separated from their parents at the border have yet to be returned to their families.
