ATLANTA — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to keep families together when crossing into the United States from Mexico, but one man said the events that took place where children were being removed from their mothers and fathers and sent to foster families or shelters will have an everlasting effect.
[ [READ MORE: President Trump signs order to keep families together at border] ]
"I've never told this story before, not even to my family, not even to my mom because it always made me cry," the local man told Channel 2 Action News as he reflected on being separated from his family more than 20 years ago. "I got stuck in the middle. I just stood there looking for someone. I couldn't see my mom. I couldn't see my grandma."
Images of the crying children being removed from their parents at the border struck a chord for the man we are choosing not to identify.
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"There is no way to describe other than just pure pain, and loneliness," he said.
In tears, the Buckhead resident opened up about experiencing a forced separation when he came to America at 6 years old.
"I still have the images of my mom full of blood," the man said.
Admittedly, he said his mother and grandmother tried to sneak him and his sister across the border from Mexico illegally.
[READ MORE: Atlanta Mayor Bottoms orders jail to refuse new ICE detainees]
He said they were fleeing his abusive father, who nearly killed his mother.
"It brings pain almost to this day," he said.
When he started seeing families being ripped apart at the border, it brought back flashbacks.
"It's traumatizing. You see things, you hear things," he said.
In the face of critical media coverage, President Trump signed an executive order ending forced separations at the border.
But for the illegal immigrant turned naturalized U.S. citizen, he believes the pain these children were put through when taken from their families will be everlasting.
"This will follow them through the rest of their lives," the man said.