Migrant families seeking asylum in front of Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2018.
(CNN) -
Dora Melara heads to remote parts of Honduras, searching for clues to cases she never imagined would take so long to solve.
Sometimes the people you are looking for are nowhere to be found.
“There are places where you practically have to climb mountains to get there.
And when you arrive, they say, 'I don't live here anymore,' ”says Melara, a lawyer with the nonprofit Justice In Motion.
For years, Melara has searched for parents who were separated from their children by US authorities as part of the Trump administration's widely condemned effort to dissuade migrant families from coming to the United States.
Attorney Dora Melara's search for separated families has led her to remote regions of Honduras.
'Until each parent is found, for me, this is not over'
That so-called "zero tolerance" policy ended in 2018. And it had largely disappeared from the headlines after sparking protests across the country that year.
But a revelation from court documents this week draws attention once again to the policy and its consequences.
Attorneys say they have been unable to reach the parents of 545 children from separated families.
And that hundreds of those parents were probably deported without their children as part of immigration policy.
It is an overwhelming statistic.
But the situation is all too familiar for Melara and other advocates involved in an international effort to find families and help them reunite that continues, despite restrictions from the pandemic that make travel more difficult.
The search includes toll-free hotlines and teams working in the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador.
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"This is something that still affects many families," Melara says.
"Until each parent is found, for me, this is not over," he adds.
Even when she arrives in a remote village, only to find that a father isn't there, Melara says she doesn't think of the case as a lost cause.
"We thought about it," he says, "as 'now we've taken the first step to find them.'
What parents say when they find them
Migrant families seeking asylum in front of Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in June 2018.
Melara often has little information when she begins a search.
Typically it will start with a child's name, a parent's name, and the parent's last known location.
This is information that, according to advocates, is often inaccurate or out of date.
When Melara arrives in a village, she talks to community leaders, hoping they can point her in the right direction.
When you find a family, they may be wary at first.
But Melara says that simply talking to them face-to-face and hearing their stories brings them comfort and relief.
And for parents who may have been struggling for months to communicate with their children and aren't sure where to turn, Melara says it has been gratifying to see them reconnect on video calls.
“Some have told me (…) 'we thought that what we went through did not matter to anyone'.
Then when we arrived, somehow these people who thought they had lost everything have a ray of hope, "he says.
The White House downplays the reports
The White House has downplayed reports of the parents who have not been found, arguing that the government has done everything possible to reunite the families.
This, despite the fact that the Government fought in court against efforts to identify and reach the families it separated before June 2018 as part of its immigration policy.
"The sad truth is that many of them have refused to accept their children," Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern told reporters on Wednesday.
Melara said that some parents she meets are happy that their children remain in America, safe and thriving.
But others are desperate to meet them.
«We have encountered different situations (…).
We have seen tears of joy and tears of sadness.
There are parents who are in contact with their children.
And there are parents who have no idea where they are, ”says Melara.
Melara says she also found parents who have already reunited with their children.
But still, he explains, the scars of separation over immigration policy are evident.
“We have seen cases of parents who, when they were separated from their children, talk about how the children cried and said: 'Dad, don't leave me.'
And cases of mothers who have experienced psychological trauma and are still going to therapy to recover.
Children say that they still have nightmares, that they wake up screaming their parents' names, ”he says.
In what circumstances are the 545 children?
Nan Schivone, legal director of Justice In Motion, estimates that nearly two dozen attorneys and advocates like Melara who work as part of her organization's "network of advocates" have been involved in finding parents in the region.
He never expected it to take that long.
"The problem here is that when the Trump administration decided to separate the families in July 2017, there was no plan to track the families or reunite them," he says.
"So here we are now, more than three years later, dealing with the consequences," he explains.
Schivone says the 545 children whose parents are looking for are likely to be in a variety of circumstances.
“They could be in America with a sponsor.
They could be in the United States in a foster home.
They could have passed the age for the sponsorship or foster system and be somewhere, not in contact with their family.
It's the range of options and possibilities, ”he says.
"The job right now is to try to account for all the people who got separated and make sure (the parents) are in contact with their children and that they have the opportunity to reunite," he explains.
Searches after the end of the 'zero tolerance' immigration policy
A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle drives along the wall on June 24, 2018, in Sunland Park, New Mexico.
By the end of 2018, a court-appointed steering committee comprised of pro bono attorneys and advocacy groups had successfully located most of the parents of the more than 2,800 children from separated families who were in government custody at the time. June 26, 2018. That was the day that District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered the Government to stop most family separations and reunite all families that had been separated.
The committee renewed its efforts when a new group of more than 1,000 children joined the case last year.
This came after revelations that the government had been separating families since July 1, 2017, months before announcing its controversial 'zero tolerance' immigration policy.
The pandemic complicated the search
Search teams had been moving forward, but their efforts stalled when the pandemic hit.
"Everything stopped and paused," says Schivone.
Since August, she says, in-person search efforts have resumed on a limited, case-by-case basis.
And more than 40 parents have been found.
"They are doing searches with masks, with face shields, trying to make the best of this terrible situation," he says.
Melara told KQED in September that pandemic travel restrictions in Honduras, which limit the days people can go out based on the last number on their government-issued ID, have made the search difficult.
“We are limited by the time we have to do our searches, we cannot stay late, we cannot stay in a hotel.
Because the next day, your ID is no longer valid to be out, "he told KQED.
"It has been very limiting," he explained.
But despite the difficulties, Melara told CNN she has no doubts that it is important to keep looking for parents.
And it doesn't matter how many dead ends you find along the way.
Melara says she is determined to keep looking.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez and Jason Hoffman contributed to this report.