An ad-hoc network has freed 15 mothers to reunite with their children, after they were parted through the United States' zero tolerance policy of separating families of illegal migrants.
1 NEWS US Correspondent Rebecca Wright - for TVNZ1's Q+A - looked at how the group, organised on Facebook, led to mothers released from detention being reunited with their children.
It has now been six weeks since Americans first got a glimpse of what was happening at their border, of the children held at Customs and Border Protection facilities in caging, sleeping under emergency blankets and crying out for their parents.
President Donald Trump eventually relented, succumbing to political pressure to put an end to the policy that forced separation of families who crossed illegally into the US.
However for thousands of families it was too late.
A mother from Queens, New York, Julie Scheetert Coyazo, was propelled into action, starting a small fundraiser to reunite Yeni Gonzalez who was held in Arizona with her children in New York. They succeeded, and began helping other mothers.
Volunteer Meghan Finn said the "women are just absolutely traumatised and the kids, it breaks your heart".
So far, the government has reunited about 1900 children with their parents, but 600 remain apart.
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