Nine parents deported as the Trump administration separated thousands of migrant families were reunited with their children they had not seen in a year and a half.
The group arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Guatemala City in a trip arranged under the order of a federal judge who found the US government had unlawfully prevented them from seeking asylum.
An asylum advocate confirmed the nine parents were all aboard the flight.
Some of the children were at the airport to greet them, including David Xol's nine-year-old son Byron.
David fell to one knee and tearfully embraced Byron for about three minutes, patting the back of his son’s head.
The reunion was a powerful reminder of the lasting effects of Trump's separation policy, even as attention and outrage have faded amid impeachment proceedings and tensions with Iran.
But it also underscored that hundreds, potentially thousands, of other parents and children are still apart nearly two years after the zero-tolerance policy on unauthorised border crossings took effect.
More than 4,000 children are known to have been separated from their parents before and during the official start of zero tolerance in spring 2018.
Under the policy, border agents charged parents en masse with illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, then placed their children in government facilities, including some “tender-age shelters” set up for infants.
