SAVANNAH, Ga. () — A Savannah mother who has been separated from her six-year-old son for over two years is looking for resolutions.

Alejandra Castro did not expect to be separated from her son for this long. The Honduran national now living in Savannah is waiting on one thing: for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to approve her son’s immigration case. The process began in February 2023 when her U.S. citizen husband filed a petition for Alejandra’s then four-year-old son. The family was told this process would take about a year.

According to USCIS, a petition for an immediate relative has a median processing time of 14.6 months. However, 28 months and 4 weeks have passed since the family filed the petition.

Six-year-old André counts down the days until he can see his mother again—drawing calendars and circling Fridays, waiting for the next time she’ll fly home to hold him.

“I feel like I’m not doing good to my son because he’s crying,” Alejandra says. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Meanwhile, her son remains in Honduras under the care of his 60-year-old grandfather and a nanny. Although Alejandra travels to visit him when she can, the trips are costly—financially and emotionally. Each goodbye becomes harder to bear.

Alejandra came to the U.S. legally with a tourist visa, married her longtime friend and partner, and began the formal process of adjusting her immigration status. She received her green card after 18 months. Her son’s case, however, remained on a waitlist.

The promised timeline has long passed and despite legal representation and repeated inquiries to USCIS the case is still marked as “within normal processing time.” An answer that offers no relief to a mother who has missed three birthdays.

“I was not able to see him for almost two years,” Alejandra said. “Every time I go and I come back… He’s always like, ‘When are you coming back?'”

Visits to Honduras are limited. Alejandra works in Savannah to support her son’s school, healthcare and other expenses. Plane tickets, legal fees and time off from work are hard to manage. Still, she plans to fly back again soon, just after his sixth birthday on July 21, so they can celebrate together.

“It’s sad not being with him the day that he was born,” she said. “But I’m still gonna be able to visit him… and then after that, I don’t know when I’m gonna be able to travel again, because it’s expensive.”

To cope with the pain of separation, Alejandra leans on her faith. She attends weekly prayer nights and Bible studies at Amanecer de Fe y Gloria Ministry, finding support in community and prayer.

“I live here at church because they help me every Tuesday… if not, I think I will just go crazy.”

When asked if she sometimes wishes she had done things differently, Alejandra is honest. However, she tries to stay hopeful, reminding herself that she made this decision to build a better future for young André.

“If you want to stay in this country, we have to do the things right,” Alejandra said. “We have to be patient… because there’s no other way.”

Like Alejandra, many other mothers remain separated from their children, waiting in uncertainty for the government’s decision that will determine when they can be reunited.