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A Honduran Family Reunited

KORVA COLEMAN, HOST:

One of the most shocking images that came out of the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy at the border is of Johan, a 10-month-old Honduran baby who showed up to his court hearing in diapers. This past Friday Johan, who is now 15 months old, was reunited with his family in Honduras. Julie Watson is a reporter with The Associated Press and was at the airport in Honduras to document the reunion.

JULIE WATSON: And actually his mom, who is seven months pregnant, at one point clutching her husband's arm, and in her hand, she held tightly a little plastic Jaguar that I guess had been his favorite toy. They kept analyzing every face of every child who would come out of the gate.

COLEMAN: His family greeted him with open arms. But his mother wept when she realized that Johan did not recognize her or his father.

WATSON: She said to him, Johan, Johan. And he seemed to cry and kind of stared at them like they were strangers. But after a short while, they started to play with him. His dad played ball with him, and then he kind of lightened up, and he definitely was starting to bond more with his parents.

COLEMAN: In the months since he had seen his parents, Johan turned 1, took his first steps and sprouted a mouthful of teeth.

WATSON: He was pretty emotional just seeing his son again. He was holding him and, you know, rubbing his head as his son would fall asleep on his shoulder after the excitement had kind of died down.

COLEMAN: He's settling in well, but his parents say he's displaying anxiety that he didn't have before, and he sleeps with the lights on. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.