A Brazilian woman separated from her 9-year-old son is flying to Chicago to find the boy and sue the government for his return with the help of Boston attorneys — who are predicting a flood of similar lawsuits from parents fighting separations.

Lidia Karin Souza, now living in Massachusetts, was arrested at the U.S. border in New Mexico in May with her son, Diogo, and has since applied for asylum. But while she was released and made her way to relatives in Hyannis, Diogo was kept at a facility in Chicago and the separation has been devastating, one of Souza’s attorneys said.

“She’s been through hell and back,” said Jeff Goldman, whose immigration law firm is representing Souza. “We’ve gone to court to say enough is enough, stop this madness.”

Goldman said Souza has met the criteria to apply for asylum but despite President Trump stating migrants who have applied for asylum will be reunited, her son is still being kept from her. Souza has to go through a background check that will take most of July, Goldman said, which he called “unconscionable.”

“The mother is here now with permission and Trump says they’re going to release people if they have permission, but of course it’s not true. Trump doesn’t care if it’s not true,” Goldman said.

White House officials have said they have a “well coordinated” plan to reunite families separated by Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all people crossing the border, and said last weekend 522 children have been returned to their parents — but 2,053 children remain separated. The military is preparing to house children and families on two bases in Texas, officials said.

In a filing in San Diego yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union called for a judge to issue a preliminary injunction to stop separations, saying the executive order Trump issued last week contains “loopholes” that could still remove children from their parents.

“The government’s existing ‘reunification’ process is not designed to address the current crisis,” the ACLU said.

Yesterday, attorney ­Jesse Bless, who works with Goldman and is handling Souza’s case, was filing suit in Chicago to file a separate suit that also called for an emergency hearing and injunction to order the government to stop holding her son, Goldman said. Souza was flying out as well to be nearer to Diogo.

“Hopefully he can be released, or he can be visited. She’ll be closer to him than she is now,” Goldman said.

East Boston immigration attorney Matt Cameron said desperate parents need legal help to navigate the various federal agencies overseeing custody of their children.

“You can’t do it without a lawyer, these families without an attorney — I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Cameron said, adding he expects to see separated parents surfacing as clients soon as more people are released to family and friends in Boston’s immigrant communities. “I don’t think it’s going to be long before we get one of these cases.”

Herald wire services contributed to this report.