President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy drew sharp rebukes after it was announced in April 2018 — especially after children who had been separated from their parents started being placed in a tent city in Tornillo. Trump signed an executive order June 20 that would keep immigrant families together, but it’s unclear how — or if — families that have already been separated will be reunited. With support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Texas Tribune has been reporting on the issue from the Texas-Mexico border, Washington, D.C., and Austin. You can help by sending story tips to tips@texastribune.org.More in this series

Many families arriving at U.S. ports of entry to seek asylum left their home countries months before recent changes in how border and immigration officials handle their requests went into effect.

Walter and Helen Vindel say they left Honduras with their four children this year to escape gangs that killed relatives and extorted money from them. By the time they arrived in Matamoros, Mexico, to cross a bridge and seek asylum at a Brownsville border station, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had ruled that people fleeing only gang or domestic violence don’t necessarily qualify for asylum.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

On a Sunday in June, the Vindel family waited on the bridge with other migrants as U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents prevented many from making it on to U.S. soil to begin the asylum process.

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