When Ludin was released on bond from a federal detention center this week, an immigrant rights organizer brought the 43-year-old Guatemalan mother to the Austin airport for a flight to Providence, R.I. so she could reunite with the two children she had not seen in more than a month. Forty days earlier, federal immigration officials in McAllen, Tex. had taken Ludin’s 9-year-old daughter, Keyri, from her arms after the family had crossed illegally while seeking asylum. Ludin said a criminal gang had threatened to kill her teenage son, Elmer.
With my co-producer Ainara Tiefenthaler, we headed down to Austin, TX to meet Ludin as she began her journey to Boston, MA where she would reunite with her children after 40 days apart.