Currents News Staff
A Romanian family is sharing their story after their four-month-old son was taken from them while at the U.S. southern border.
Constantin Mutu was just four months old when he traveled from Romania to Mexico to the southern border of the United States.
The child is reportedly the youngest known case of family separation under the President’s former zero-tolerance immigration policy.
He rode most of the way in his parents’ arms.
According to the New York Times, when Constantin arrived in the U.S. last year, he was separated from his parents and sent to a foster home in Michigan.
Due to the circumstances his mother returned to Romania while his father languished in U.S. custody, without knowing what happened to his loved ones.
“He was detained in an American immigration detention facility for four months, during which time he almost never had help with translation. He still to this day struggles with flashbacks and nightmares,” said New York Times immigration reporter Caitlin Dickerson.
Constantin’s foster parents tried to document his growth and crucial firsts to share with his biological family.
“I would always think, it breaks my heart that his mom is missing this.”
When Constantin was finally returned to his mother in Romania, he no longer recognized her.
“He screamed. he bucked his body and he reached back to his foster mother whom he’d become attached to,” Dickerson reported. “And so, in a way, that second separation is going to be as traumatic for him as the first one was.”
Constantin is the youngest known child to be taken from his family under President Trump’s family separation policy.
He’s now back in Romania with his parents and four siblings.
“Constantin has acclimated to being back with his parents and is getting close with them again. But he still isn’t walking, and he isn’t talking and he’s almost two years old,” Dickerson said.
According to the New York Times, the family sold their home to make their initial trip to the U.S., and are struggling to make ends meet.
“As a mother, I would rather die than have someone else raise my kid,” said Florentina Mutu, Constantin’s biological mother.
But despite their ordeal, the Mutus are working hard to return to the states someday, in hopes of living a better life, all of them together.