Photos of families who set off on migration journeys and found themselves torn apart
MIAMI– Under the first Trump administration, families were forcibly separated at the border.
Today in the United States, parents are arrested by immigration authorities and separated from their families during prolonged in-country detention.
Three recent migrants told The Associated Press that their journeys brought deep pain and uncertainty because they marked the possible start of permanent separation between loved ones. Associated Press photographers documented the human toll.
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Jakelin Pasedo and her two young sons arrived in Miami in December 2024 and were granted refugee status while Pasedo cares for the boy and works in office cleaning. Their husband and father, Antonio Laverde, who left Venezuela in 2022, was arrested in June at their shared accommodation and detained for three months before asking to return to Venezuela. Fearing persecution if she returns, Pasedo hopes to reunite with her husband in the United States
Amavilia left Guatemala in September 2023 and is caring for two young children: she breastfeeds and wakes up at 3 a.m. to prepare lunches that she sells for $10 while also selling homemade ice cream and chocolate-covered bananas door to door. Her husband Edgar, who had lived and worked in South Florida for more than 20 years, was arrested on an arrest warrant in 2016 and deported to Guatemala on June 8, leaving the family unable to pay rent and initially dependent on donations.
She and her husband declined to give their last names because they fear repercussions from U.S. immigration authorities.
Amavilia is afraid of the police, urges her daughter to remain calm, and continues to “entrust myself to God,” hoping to provide stability despite the uncertainty.
“I fell into despair. I didn’t know what to do,” said Amavilia, 31.
Yaoska, five months pregnant, lives in Miami with her two young sons, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, equipped with a 24-hour GPS monitoring bracelet. She fled Nicaragua in 2022. Her husband, a political activist who was threatened and beaten in his home, was arrested during an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and failed his credible interview out of fear.
Yaoska spoke on condition of anonymity and asked for the same for her husband to protect him from the Nicaraguan government.
He was deported after three months of detention. Yaoska’s work authorization runs until 2028, but she fears for her family’s future and struggles to find stable employment.
“It’s so hard to see my children like this. They arrested him right in front of them,” Yaoska said, her voice shaking.
