After being separated from his parents five months on the US-Mexico border, a 15-month-old boy did not immediately recognise his parents when reunited in Honduras.

Johan Bueso Montecitos had been separated from father Rolando Bueso Castillo in Texas this past March as part of the Trump administration's “zero tolerance” immigration policy which put undocumented immigrants in detention facilities away from their children, though many had crossed the border seeking asylum.

The baby had been placed in a facility in Arizona and remained there after Mr Castillo was deported back to his native Honduras. Johan became the embodiment of the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant children from their parents when the Associated Press detailed his appearance alone in a courtroom for deportation proceedings per US law.

Johan was laughing in a just a little while as his parents held him, kissed him, and waited for the final paperwork to be finished at the Casa Belen shelter in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

His mother, Adelicia Montecino, expressed joy at having her son back but also anger for having been separated from him for so long.

She regretted missing her son's first steps, his first words, and his first birthday all because of the US' immigration policy which essentially made seeking asylum a crime.

Though family's had been detained under the previous administration of Barack Obama, people were released to await asylum court hearings.

Theresa May condemns Trump's family separation policy and says she will challenge him on UK visit

The separating of families was a new policy undertaken by the Trump administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and despite statements from the White House, Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, and Attorney general Jeff Sessions - this is not codified by law. It was a policy that could have been rescinded unilaterally by Donald Trump at any time.

Johan's emotional return to his mother and father is just one of many, but the Trump administration is still tracking down guardians and their children after they were separated by ICE, failing to meet court deadlines set for children based on their age.

Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty

The chaos in reuniting families - parents and children being given different case numbers with no obvious system to match them and children being sent to facilities as far away as New York and Michigan - perhaps points to a policy that may have never intended on allowing the families to be together.

As of 20 July, the administration said it only been able to connect 450 of the roughly 2,500 children separated at the US border.

As NBC News reported: "Parents who are given final deportation orders must decide between leaving their children in the U.S. or agreeing to reunification and, consequently, deporting their children as well".

The policy has been ended through an executive order Mr Trump signed on 20 June but 17 states and Washington DC are still suing the government for its actions. The order also did address the underlying problem - not allowing people to seek asylum in the US without being jailed. Per US law, seekers must enter the US before applying for asylum.