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After crossing the border, this father and daughter weren't separated. Here's why

An at-capacity border detention facility was a blessing for a Honduran father and his one-year-old daughter.

McAllen, Texas — Nelson Lara sat in the back of a crowded shelter in McAllen, Texas, on Monday evening with nothing but the clothes he was wearing and a tracking monitor around his right ankle.

But in at least one way, Lara was fortunate. He still had his young daughter with him.

"If they took her away, that would be bad because she would be left without parents," Lara said. "That's a lot of pain. They should not take someone's children. They need us, and we love our children. We feel them right in our hearts."

Lara, 22, and his one-year-old daughter were staying at a Catholic Charities shelter in downtown McAllen. They arrived at the border from Honduras on Saturday night. Lara was initially detained but given an ankle monitor and released. He was able to stay with his daughter.

That's because some government detention facilities were at capacity, said Sister Norma Pimental, the head of the shelter.

Credit: WFAA
Nelson Lara, who arrived at the Texas border from Honduras on Saturday, gives water to his one-year-old daughter at a Catholic Charities shelter in McAllen, Texas. 

There were dozens of other parents and young children, like Lara and his daughter, who recently immigrated to Texas and stayed in the shelter Monday night. Many of them were detained by border officials but released because some detention facilities were at capacity, said Pimental.

"There are some that are not so fortunate," Pimental said. "There are some who arrived at the same time that these families arrived and eventually detained, prosecuted and separated."

The "not so fortunate" Pimental referenced are the hundreds of immigrant children who have been separated from their parents at the border. Detention facilities have been set up in McAllen, in nearby Brownsville and in Tornillo, outside of El Paso.

While the parents and children at the Catholic Charities shelter remained together, they gave a glimpse at the families coming into the U.S. each day.

Lara said he left Honduras because "you can't even make enough money for food" in his home country.

A Catholic Charities shelter in McAllen, Texas, where immigrants have been able to stay with their children.

He brought little with him: His young daughter, and the clothes they were wearing.

No food, no money, no extra clothes.

At the shelter, the parents sat in small blue chairs and held their small children. Older children played in a toy area in the corner. The families were given tote bags of sandwiches, chips and other items, such as batteries. Few had extra belongings. The shelter was helping them buy tickets at a nearby bus station.

Lara said he was not yet free to leave and would have to appear before a judge. But he was happy to still be with his daughter as she played on the floor and ate Cheetos.

"It's something terrible," he said of the children who have been separated from their children. "They shouldn't take someone's children. They shouldn't be without their parents."

Nelson Lara's one-year-old daughter at a Catholic Charities shelter in McAllen, Texas. Lara, who arrived at the Texas border from Honduras on Saturday, has not been separated from his daughter.

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