Houston-based immigration reporter Nomaan Merchant uncovered a heartbreaking tale in his coverage of the lingering toll of President Donald Trump’s family separation policy: a 9-year-old boy, Byron Xol, who is still separated from his parents. The boy bounced around from one detention facility to another and eventually landed in the home of a Texas family who took custody of the child, while the boy’s parents were deported to Guatemala.
The story shows the value of journalists picking their moment. Nomaan had been looking for an opportunity to write a detailed narrative that would illustrate the stress that separations have on families. He had been speaking to the father of Byron and his lawyer since last summer, and when he learned of Byron’s upcoming birthday from the attorney, he decided it was the perfect time to tell the tale.
Nomaan and his editors agreed to send all-formats crews to his home in Texas and his family’s impoverished village in Guatemala on the same day. We would be in both places when the dad called the boy and marked the birthday to capture the emotion surrounding the day and the sharp contrast between the two worlds.
Merchant and his Houston colleagues – video journalist John Mone and photographer David Phillip – went to the boy’s current foster home outside Austin. Meanwhile, photographer Santiago Billy, reporter Sonny Figueroa and video stringer Sergio Alfaro went to the Guatemalan village. The Guatemalan home had no electricity and was dark, creating challenges for the Central American team to tell the story visually. And the birthday phone call between the father and child was in a Mayan dialect, forcing Merchant to seek out a translation service.
“We didn’t get approval from Byron’s father until Saturday, two days before Byron’s birthday, so we had to quickly mobilize on both sides to arrange the trip,” Nomaan recounted in an email. “I think it worked out well, especially on video, where you can see both father and son looking at each other from across the divide.”
Byron Xol, a 9-year-old immigrant, talks to his family in Guatemala from the home of Matthew and Holly Sewell in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019. Fourteen months earlier he was packed in a wooden crate by smugglers and shipped from Guatemala to the U.S., only to be grabbed immediately by border agents and ripped away from his father. His father David was deported back to Guatemala without Byron.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
David Xol talks with his son, Byron, over a video call from his home in San Miguel El Limon, Guatemala, June, 23, 2019. Byron was celebrating his ninth birthday with his host family in Texas after being separated from his father by border agents in 2018. His father was deported back to Guatemala.
AP Photo / Santiago Billy
David Xol lies in a hammock in his one-bedroom home in San Miguel El Limon, Guatemala, June, 23, 2019. He says he and his son Byron made an attempt to enter the U.S. because they had been threatened by gangsters. He is an evangelical Christian who says he refused to join the gang because his faith forbids violence.
AP Photo / Santiago Billy
Florinda Xol and her son, Alan, 3, stand at the doorway of their one-bedroom home in San Miguel El Limon, Guatemala, June, 23, 2019. She is the wife of David Xol, a migrant who was separated from his son Byron, and deported. Byron was still staying with a foster family in Texas.
AP Photo / Santiago Billy
David Xol sits in his one-bedroom home in San Miguel El Limon, Guatemala, June, 23, 2019. Fourteen months earlier, he was deported from the U.S., but his son Byron remained, locked away with thousands of children separated from their parents at the border by the Trump administration’s crackdown.
AP Photo / Santiago Billy
Family photos of David Xol hang on a wall in his one-bedroom home in San Miguel El Limon, Guatemala, June, 23, 2019, 14 months after he was separated from his son Byron by U.S. border agents.
AP Photo / Santiago Billy
Drawings and photos of his parents and two brothers hang next to the bed of 9-year-old Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019. The Sewells, his host family, make sure Byron stays in touch with his family, calling Byron’s parents several times a week.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, a 9-year-old immigrant, talks to his family in Guatemala from the home of Holly, right, and Matthew Sewell in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Host parent Holly Sewell helps Byron Xol, 9, an immigrant from Guatemala, talk to his family by phone in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
The entrance to the Buda, Texas, home of Holly and Matthew Sewell who are hosting Byron Xol, a child immigrant from Guatemala, June 24, 2019. Watching the news last summer, the couple heard that children were being detained after their parents had been deported. And they thought: Why not provide a real home for at least one child?
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, poses for a photograph at his hosts’ home in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019. A federal judge could soon decide whether to let his father, deported to Guatemala, return to the U.S. If the court rejects the motion, Byron may be sent back to Guatemala.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, 9, left, an immigrant from Guatemala, and Windy Sewell, right, watch Windy’s brother Desmond play an electronic game in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, lies on the floor in a makeshift disco ballroom during his ninth birthday party, at the home of his host family in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019.
AP Photo / Santiago Billy
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, squeezes a water balloon during his birthday party in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019. “Super good!” the 9-year-old yelled, again and again as they burst.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Guatemalan immigrant Byron Xol holds up a water gun during his birthday party in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019. Byron was separated from his father, David Xol-Cholom, in May 2018, during the Trump administration’s wide-scale separation of immigrant families.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, carries water balloons during his birthday party in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, center, an immigrant from Guatemala, laughs as he prepares to blow out the candle on his birthday cake during a party with his host family, the Sewells, in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019. Byron was separated from his father, David Xol in May 2018, during the Trump administration’s wide-scale separation of immigrant families.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, builds a Lego set at the home of his host family in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, carries balloons for his birthday party at the home of his host family in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, hits a piñata for his birthday in Buda, Texas, June 24, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
Host parent Holly Sewell gives Byron Xol, an immigrant from Guatemala, a hug during his birthday party in Buda, Texas, June 23, 2019.
AP Photo / David J. Phillip
The story was indeed gripping. The father described his pain over the separation and nostalgic remembrances from the boy’s earlier years, along with his own efforts to try to get back to the U.S. to be reunited. The visit with Byron and the foster parents provided rich details, such as how the boy has nightmares about monsters putting him in a cage. The story, which was used by more than 400 AP members in the U.S., was one of a series of strong pieces that have put names, faces and personal narratives to the immigration story, keeping AP’s coverage ahead. It finished with a kicker about how the boy’s father recently sent a recording of a song to his son with the lyrics: “Wherever you are, wherever you go, I ask you to please return to my side, our lost son, because only a miracle will bring you back to us.”
For recognizing the moment and mobilizing quickly across formats and borders, Alfaro, Billy, Figueroa, Merchant, Mone and Phillip share AP’s Best of the Week.