Joseph Ishmael Lowry is only eleven years old. He is severely autistic and non-verbal. Now, his mother, Djenebou Sissoko, has been deported, as she was undocumented. His father, a U.S. Army Veteran, died less than a year ago.
Now, his mother is in Mali, West Africa.
Ishmael's aunt says his mother came to the U.S. twenty years ago on a visa, which has now expired. His family worries he won't be able to cope without his mother.
"Ever since she's been gone he can't - he's different," explained Hadey Jean-Pois. "He's sad, he's screaming, he has tension. You see it in his eyes."
With Ishmael's mother back in West Africa, his aunt in the U.S. is trying to gain custody of her son, otherwise, they fear without his mother here, he won't get the treatment he needs for severe autism.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the mother's stay of removal was denied after she failed to leave the country voluntarily in 2009.