Guatemalan Mom Reunites With 7-Year-Old Son At BWI Airport

LINTHICUM, MD — A mother and son were reunited at Baltimore-Washington International Airport on Friday in an emotional event that captured national attention. The pair from Guatemala had reportedly crossed the U.S. border in May fleeing violence in their home country.

Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia was separated from her son Darwin, 7, at the border and sued the government to find out were he was, according to NBC. They were separated for weeks.

The two crossed the border into Arizona at an area other than an official port of entry, meaning they entered the country illegally. They were detained by border patrol agents May 19, and two days later, Darwin was taken to a detention facility operated by the Department of Health and Human Services in Phoenix, according to NBC, which said his mother was detained at the Eloy Detention Center. The private jail is more than an hour away in Arizona.

When she was released on bail on June 15, Mejia-Mejia filed a lawsuit to get him back, NBC reported.

Their tear-filled reunion was captured on camera at BWI by the national media on Friday after 2 a.m.

The lawsuit was filed with assistance from an organization in Virginia, on grounds that the government did not hold a hearing before removing the child from her custody, violating due process, according to ABC News.

Libre by Nexus, an organization that works with immigrants, filed the suit, and also paid her $12,500 bond, CNN reported.

After the suit was filed Tuesday, the Department of Justice ruled that she would get her son back Thursday, and the two were reunited at BWI around 2 a.m. Friday, according to CBS News.

What did he tell his mother when he first saw her?

When a CBS This Morning reporter asked Darwin the question, he answered through a translator: "That I love her."

Mejia-Mejia and her son will reportedly stay in Texas until August, when they have a hearing scheduled about their request for asylum.

Their case is not isolated, and Mejia-Mejia told CNN that other women she was detained with said they did not know where their children were; Libre by Nexus reportedly plans to file a class-action case on behalf of families that have been separated at the border.

The Department of Homeland Security reported that at least 2,000 children had been separated at the border between April 19 and May 31.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday calling for detaining parents and their children together.

• Hogan Pulls MD National Guard From Border Over Family Separations
• Trump Signs Order To End Border Family Separation Policy: AP

Still of Darwin and Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia reuniting at BWI Airport in Maryland on Friday, June 20, from CBS This Morning/YouTube.