Ariel Is Reunified with His Father After Unlawful Separation at the Border

In May 2019, the Young Center was assigned to the case of 4-year-old Ariel. * Ariel’s father hoped to seek protection from persecution in the United States. Instead, when they arrived at the border, father and son were forcibly separated from each other. Customs and Border Protection Officers told Ariel’s father that they did not believe that he was Ariel’s father despite a copy of Ariel’s birth certificate, which included both their names and photos.

Ariel was taken more than a thousand miles away to a shelter in New York, while his father was held in ICE detention in Arizona. This is when the Young Center was assigned as Ariel’s Child Advocate. Our team’s job? To fight for Ariel’s best interests, including his right to be out of government custody and with family.

After learning Ariel’s story and finding his father, we were able to establish regular contact between father and son, though only be telephone. Over the next several months, we had to advocate with multiple federal agencies for both the release and reunification of father and son. Ultimately, our demands for reunification were heard. In collaboration with Immigrant Families Together and Miles4Migrants we were able to reunify the father and son in September.

Photo of Ariel and his father, courtesy of Camilo Montoya-Galves/CBS News.

“We’re honored to have supported Ariel and helped reunify him with his loving father. But our work to end unlawful and unnecessary family separation continues. We see more cases of unjustified family separation every week,” Young Center-New York’s Managing Attorney Priscilla Monico Marín said about continued family separation.

CBS recently told the story of Ariel and his father and continued separations at our border. Click here to read their piece.

Our work with children like Ariel is made possible by supporters around the country. Please consider making a donation now to help more immigrant children in government custody.

*We rarely share a child’s actual name or photos in stories, but do so today because telling this story was Ariel’s father’s decision—as it should be.