Guatemalan boy reunites with father after weeks in Kansas

Before 14-year-old Guatemalan Samuel Cazun left a Kansas nonprofit to be reunited with his father, he gave staff members the sketches of their faces he had drawn to help them remember him.

Of the dozens of migrant children housed at The Villages in Topeka under a contract with the federal government, Samuel was among as many as nine there who were separated from family members at the southern border under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on illegal immigration.

Edvin Cazun, of Guatemala, right, hugs his son Samuel at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport as they reunite after being separated about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

It has been more than a month since immigration agents took Samuel away from his father after the two waded across the Rio Grande into Texas following about 15 days traveling by bus from Guatemala. On Monday afternoon, Samuel and his father, Edvin Cazun, tearfully embraced at the Cincinnati airport, reunited once again.

Samuel Cazun, of Guatemala, right, hugs his cousin Nelson, and speaks to his mother on a mobile phone after reuniting with his father Ervin at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport following their separation about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Samuel was all smiles when he caught sight of his father as he rode up on the elevator at the airport, waving to family members. A young cousin ran up to hug him. Edvin Cazun then briefly buried his head on his son's shoulders and embraced him before wiping away his own tears. While still at the airport, Samuel had a video chat with his mother in Guatemala on a relative's cellphone.

Samuel Cazun, of Guatemala, left, and his father Ervin, right, leave Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport as they reunite after being separated about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Samuel told The Associated Press in Spanish that the separation was "very hard" and that it made him sad. He worried when he was in Kansas that his father would be deported and that he would never see him again.

Edvin Cazun said he initially tried to come into this country legally by paying for a worker visa, but he was instead ripped off by the people selling them. When he tried to get his money back, they threatened to kill him. So he fled with Samuel to the United States, leaving behind his wife and his four other children, ages 9 to 18, and is now seeking asylum in the hopes of giving Samuel a chance at a better life.

Edvin Cazun, of Guatemala, right, hugs his son Samuel at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport as they reunite after being separated about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

"What I want now that we are together is for him to get ahead in life. I want to be responsible for him. I want him to study in this country. That is the best future for him, no? That is my desire as his father," Edvin Cazun said in Spanish.

Samuel said in a Tuesday phone interview that he wants to study in the United States and become a professional artist.

The Trump administration said in a court filing Monday that there have been 1,187 children reunified with their parents or "other appropriate discharges," which include guardians and sponsors. It added that some 463 parents may not be in the United States, saying those findings are based on case notes and are under review.

Samuel Cazun, of Guatemala, speaks with his mother on a mobile phone after reuniting with his father Ervin at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport following their separation about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Immigration attorney Clare Murphy Shaw is Samuel's attorney and said Tuesday that of the seven immigrant children in Kansas she represents in immigration court, five of them have already left The Villages. The two remaining separated children are scheduled to leave either Tuesday or Wednesday.

In what is the first public glimpse at life for migrant children at The Villages in Topeka, Samuel recounted how he was among 13 male teenagers housed in one of the group homes at the facility. He had his own bed and shared a room with another teenager. The food was good and the children could talk with their parents several times a week. They would also go to classes from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. each day, studying English, mathematics, science, technology and other subjects.

Edvin Cazun, of Guatemala, indicates the arrival time of his son Samuel's flight to family members at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport before they reunite after being separated about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

There were a lot of rules to follow, such as not hugging other children, although a handshake was ok. No opening the windows. Don't go into someone else's room.

Samuel Cazun, of Guatemala, right, waves to his family at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport before reuniting with his father Edvin after being separated about a month ago at the southern border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States, Monday, July 23, 2018, in Hebron, Ky. Edvin said they were separated at the "detention" and he spent 15 days without knowing anything about his son. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

It was a lot nicer than facility the Samuel was kept in while in Texas. His first day he was kept in a cage that he compared to one used to contain animals. He slept on a mat on the floor. He thinks he probably spent five days at a second Texas facility but wasn't sure because there were no windows, the lights were on all the time and he couldn't tell whether it was even day or night.

But the hardest part was being separated from his father. Samuel said he prayed to God while at the Kansas shelter that they would soon be together.

"Now I am no longer sad," Samuel said.

Most teenagers don’t use drugs. There’s data to show that because of a 50-year-old government survey that may now be in jeopardy.

The entire 17-member U.S. government team responsible for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health received layoff notices Tuesday, as part of the overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It's not clear whether there is an alternative plan to analyze the data, which local and state governments use to develop prevention measures and treatment services. The federal government distributes grant money to fight the opioid addiction crisis based on it. Researchers use it to study trends in depression, alcoholism and tobacco use.

HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the survey, mandated by Congress, will continue “as a vital contribution to the advancement of America’s behavioral health.” He said the department's reorganization will make it “better positioned to execute on Congress’s statutory intent.”

The nationally representative survey is conducted in person by an independent research group with about 70,000 people each year. It provides a more complete picture than trends in overdose deaths, which capture only a small segment of the problem, said Lindsey Vuolo of the Partnership to End Addiction.

“We use its findings on a near daily basis in our research, educational programming and resources, and communication materials,” Vuolo said of the survey.

Before the layoffs, the government team was preparing to analyze 2024 data, the first year where trends would be reliable again since the pandemic disrupted data collection, said Jennifer Hoenig, the laid-off director of the Office of Population Surveys.

The data could now sit on the shelf without experienced analysts to untangle it, she said.

“Every person working on it was let go,” Hoenig said. The office is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which would be absorbed into a new Administration for a Healthy America under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plan.

“My team and I care so much about this data that we want people to understand what is being lost in our country if we don’t have it,” Hoenig said.

In recent years, the survey has found:

— Seven out of 10 adolescents did not use illicit drugs or drink alcohol in 2023.

— Men 60 and older were more likely than women in the same age group to have a substance use disorder, but women were more likely than men to have had a major depressive episode in 2021 and 2022.

— Lesbian, gay and bisexual young people were about twice as likely as straight young people to have had a substance use disorder in 2023.

— People who report using cannabis in the past year nearly doubled over two decades, from 11% in 2002 to 21.9% in 2022.

“In attempting to solve any public health problem, data is critical," said Andrew Kessler of Slingshot Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in addiction and mental health issues. “It allows us to advocate for and establish policies that fill very large gaps in treatment, thus saving lives in the process."

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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