This article from the New York Times tells the story of one Guatemalan mother, among others, who migrated to the United States, was separated from her daughter, and now faces the threat of losing custody of her daughter because the girl is a US citizen.
Her heart in tatters, the 38-year-old Guatemalan woman was sent back to the Georgia detention center without her daughter, Yeisvi, 11. “The others got their children back,” she said, “I was left with my despair.” She hasn’t seen her daughter since they were separated in May, but they talk on the phone twice a week.
The mother, Vilma Carrillo, came to the United States seeking asylum, only to be turned down "after the Trump administration early this year ruled out domestic abuse as legal grounds for granting refuge."
"The fact that [her daughter] is an American citizen creates another problem: While migrant families can be placed together in family detention centers in cases where the courts rule against allowing them to go free with a bond or other restrictions, it is against the law to hold a United States citizen in one of the facilities." Carrillo's daughter, Yeisvi, has been placed in foster care while her mother is in detention, appealing the deportation order.