when oh ♪ ♪ but then again this is "nightline." >> tonight, an undocumented mother and son reunited after a gut-wrenching month apart. but so many others still desperate. at the white house, some with no hope at all. parents whose children were killed by undocumented criminals. >> these are the american citizens permanently separated from their loved ones. >> the balance on the border between compassion and strength. welcome back, conners. the anything ga-hit sitcom revival revived, again minus one tough-talking mama. >> i'm not afraid of you. >> give it time. >> the star comedian written out after her racist tweet led to cancelati cancelation. can the conners keep their

charisma without roseanne? first the "nightline 5." >> new digestive advantage now has probiotics that add good bacteria to your body and feed the bacteria you already have. together they support your digestive health. one pill, two ways to help you stay strong. are you taking the tissue test? >> yep. and my teeth are yellow. >> time for whitestrips. >> crest, the only ada accepted whitening strips proven safe and effective. crest, healthy, beautiful smiles for life. >> number one in just 60 seconds.

good evening and thank you for joining us. tonight, another emotional reunion of a migrant family. a mother and son separated after a month after being caught crossing the border illegally.

for the hundreds of other children still being held in facilities across the country, a happy ending like this one might not come so soon. a mother scurries to greet her boy. but the reunion is stilted. the scar tissue of separation heart-wrenchingly painful. difficult to break. biana maria from guatemala, her 7-year-old son taken from her a month ago. she's applied for plolitical asylum. the u.s. justice department agreed to release the boy after his mother sued the government. legal action paid for by a pro-immigrant organization. her message to other parents separated from their kids --

>> reporter: the battle at the border is playing out in courtrooms across the country. ever since the trump administration's zero tolerance policy went into effect. >> the way the law works, the first-time offenders that cross our border illegally are guilty of a misdemeanor. those that cross multiple times are guilty of a felony. the president said, stop making the distinctions, marshal your resources, please arrest, catch, detain, and then prosecute everyone that crosses illegally. >> reporter: two days ago, president trump issued an executive order essentially stopping family separation. a senior white house official tells the associated press around 500 children have been reunited since may, but there are more than 1,800 still waiting. civil rights lawyers say today marked a first. >> today was the first day that we went in and money the people being criminally prosecuted for the misdemeanor of illegal entry, there were no parents.

>> reporter: however, the president's order did not spell out just how to reunite those thousands of parents and children already in different detention facilities. like the family of that little girl captured in audio first obtained by pro publica. 6-year-old alison valencia madrid shown here with her mother, begging a supervisor to call her aunt after she and her mom were separated. wednesday, pro publica was listening as the girl called her aunt again from inside a detention center. >> reporter: her aunt didn't want her face shown, afraid

speaking owl with affect her own asylum case. it's been a week since the girl and her mom crossed the border. pro publica reporting the girl is in a facility in phoenix, over 1,200 miles from her mother, who is in port isabel, texas. her aunt says mom was told they'd be reunited, but after filling out paperwork she hasn't heard anything else. for the first time since being separated, the mother and daughter talked on the phone on thursday. >> the fact that she was able to memorize this phone number turned out to be a really lucky thing for her. many of the kids who come to this country who are her age or below don't know things like phone numbers. they don't know their parents' full names. but that phone number distinguished her from the rest of the group. >> reporter: those working closely on cases say big part of the problem, two totally different government agencies

handle these cases. >> they should be able to put those children back with their parents just as fast as they took them away. there's no excuse for it. and they haven't provided one. >> reporter: adults captured at the border are prosecuted under the department of homeland security. children go to the office of refugee resettlement, which is under health and human services. el paso public defender eric henshaw says answering parents' questions about their children is difficult, and sometimes impossible. >> how's my child going to take care of itself? where is my child? why don't you know the answers to these questions about my child? i've never in my job had to say i'm sorry and say i have no good explanation for why someone would think this is the right thing to do in our country. >> reporter: there's a phone line set up for parents to track their children. >> the idea here is to take the various children and the various facilities and reunite them with their parents through a pretty simple phone-based system.

at that point we're going to have to develop a stable and sustainable system over time. >> reporter: one thing the president's executive order does make clear, families may now be kept together, but still in detention, perhaps indefinitely. >> there's inherent contradiction here. the president has said zero tolerance policy, you're going to prosecute everyone who crosses the border illegally. you're also going to try to keep families together. does that mean jail them all? you have another court opinion that says you can't put children in certain kinds of detention facilities for longer than 20 days. >> reporter: indefinite detention of families is something critics and many democratic politicians say is unacceptable. >> let's be clear about the executive order just signed the other day by president trump. it doesn't end. it doesn't end the zero tolerance policy. it doesn't stop criminalizing asylum-seekers. >> when you have people that show up that have no criminal history, and a child, and you

purposely put them into a criminal court to felonize them, to turn them into a criminal on paper, and rip their child away, that's a totally different picture. >> reporter: several groups of lawmakers spent today touring some of those detention facilities. >> all the news media, i'm going to ask you all to step off the property -- >> reporter: california democratic senator kamala harris spoke at a rally outside a facility near san diego. after visiting with migrant mothers inside who have been separated from their children -- >> these mothers have shared their stories, their personal stories, that are a story of a human rights abuse being committed by the united states government. >> reporter: today president trump chose to shift focus away from families separated at the border. >> these are the angel families. >> reporter: putting the spotlight on families whose loved ones were killed by undocumented criminals. >> none of our kids had a minute to say good-bye. we weren't lucky enough to be separated for five days or ten days. they're separate permanently. >> reporter: multiple studies show undocumented immigrants

commit crimes at a lower rate than american citizens. >> many of the parents being criminally prosecuted under zero tolerance, their only crime was a misdemeanor of illegal entry. they're not violent criminals. >> reporter: earlier this week, president trump went to capitol hill repeating his message that congress needs to pass immigration reform, wall, and solve family separations for good. >> the immigration system, it's been a really bad, bad system, probably the worst anywhere in the world. we're going to try and see if we can fix it. >> reporter: yesterday house republicans failed to pass a hardline immigration reform bill. >> yeas 193, nays 231. >> reporter: today in an about-face president trump tweeted, republicans should stop wasting their time on immigration until after we elect more senators and congressmen and women in november. while washington struggles to find solutions, operations at the border keep churning. my colleague marcus moore was at this bus stop in southern texas

as a group of mothers arrived carrying their very young children. >> you can see they all have ankle monitors on. you may be able to see that. >> reporter: the women we spoke with say they weren't separated from their kids but they feared they would be. instead officials processed them and today released them. they are the fortunate ones. the relative few now free to stay with family or friends. and wait for a ruling. the american dream is not yet theirs. and may never be. the aclu plans to file new pleadings for the migrants over the weekend and the government will submit a response on wednesday. next, same cast, same couch, but a glaring empty seat. how will the conners go on without roseanne? if you feel like you spend too much time in the bathroom with recurring constipation and belly pain talk to your doctor and say yesss! to linzess. ♪ yesss! linzess treats adults

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are you two getting along? oh, yeah, yeah. [ hiss ] [ gasps ] [ birds chirping]

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"roseanne" fans, the news bite might be bittersweet, their beloved sitcom cannes selled after the star's racist tweet, now making a comeback but without its lead character. the brar are, outspoken matriarch was the glue of the family. where are the conners without roseanne? here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: imagine "the roseanne show" minus roseanne. that's the elevator pitch for the new show "the conners" announced this week. same cast, same couch, one big empty seat at the table. roseanne's downfall was sudden and shocking. >> ladies and gentlemen -- roseanne! >> reporter: a month ago the network celebrated her as the star of its annual "up front" presentation.

the hottest new show on television averaging over 18 million viewers a night. then, just two weeks later, that infamous tweet comparing a former obama aide to an ape. abc's number one show tanked by a 3:00 a.m. tweet. roseanne apologized but the damage was done. that one tweet cost hundreds of her coworkers their jobs and left the network with a gaping hole in the fall lineup. roseanne barr was not just the star of the original show, and the reboot. she was its cocreator and executive producer. normally she'd be entitled to a share in the profits of any future spinoffs, whether or not she appears on camera. but according to abc, roseanne won't benefit financially from "the conners." network executives insist she'll have no financial or creative involvement in the new series whatsoever. roseanne issued the following statement about the spinoff. i agreed to the settlement in

order that 200 jobs of beloved cast and crew could be saved, and i wish the best for everyone involved. >> this is sort of uncharted territory. we're really not sure what to expect just yet. we can speculate up and down. but the producers are being very quiet in terms of how they're actually going to address the big elephant in the room, what do you do without roseanne? >> reporter: the show must go on. but it's a gamble. "all in the family" without archie bunker? >> oh, that would be the day. >> reporter: "m.a.r.h." without hawkeye? it doesn't work. turns out you can swap out members of an ensemble cast. "e.r." survived after george clooney went on to bigger and better things. and without steve carell managing "the office." "two and a half men" without charlie sheen. ashton curber kept going. but replacing the biggest star is harder. "house of cards" continued for

one more season after kevin spacey was fired following allegations of sexual misconduct. and "transparent" will disappear, filming its fifth and final season, after controversial star jeffrey tambor was fired. abc is banking on the idea that those huge ratings had more to do with the ensemble than with the sharp-tongued matriarch of the conner clan. relatable, real people, the rare tv family who are not one percenters. we spoke with actor michael fishman before "roseanne" was canceled. >> what i hear from fans through social media is that they feel okay struggling. that they like that they see us strugg struggle, they can relate to that. >> black people are just like us -- >> reporter: but mining those characters for dramatic effect, exploring their struggles with real-life issues. >> i don't want to dis-gina. >> tough, you're doing it. >> i hate you. >> fine, you don't have to kiss

me. >> reporter: d.j. hesitates to kiss a black girl in a school play. in the reboot we find out he ended up marrying her. they are a biracial child. in the new show, still plenty of room to explore that storyline. even without roseanne's running commentary. >> we have so many powerful voices that we really do a good job of trying to play all sides and have real conversations that you'd see in your own kitchen or living room. >> let's say grace. jackie, would you like to take a knee? >> reporter: roseanne's character was the one member of the conner family known to have voted for trump. >> thank you for making america great again. >> reporter: will the show still appeal to those viewers who have been feeling overlooked by network tv? >> this is what half of america lives like. and looks like. and if we had lost that show, we would have lost a slice of america that you simply can't get anyplace else. i don't think the appeal was

simply because roseanne seemed to be a trump voters err or supporter. i think the appeal was much broader and more representative of a segment of society that simply isn't listened to or isn't respected by either the mainstream media or popular culture. >> reporter: according to the screen actors guild, the stars would have to be paid for at least seven episodes, even if none were produced. that's a multi-million dollar severance. now abc will have something to show for all that money. >> the only thing they'll say in their announcement is the conner family is adjusting to life after a big, major life event. we can read between the lines and realize that life event involves the disappearance of roseanne. roseanne conner. so the question is, what happens to her? >> reporter: one big question? how will the new show explain roseanne's departure? >> i really don't feel so good. >> reporter: the writers have some experience there. the original show killed off john goodman's character.

>> dan! >> reporter: still, he was able to come back for the reboot. they just glossed it over, made a joke out of it. >> i thought you were dead! >> i'm sleeping! >> the big question is going to be, do they kill off roseanne's character? all signs honestly point to yes. how else do you explain her disappearance? world trip for a year? taken a job in another town? >> reporter: in this case, abc and the cost of "the conners" may end up having the last laugh. one thing we do know is, it won't be the laugh we all remember. i'm david wright for "nightline" in new york. and next, sibling revelry. a heartwarming graduation surprise. i was wondering if an electric toothbrush really cleans better than a manual.

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finally tonight, a graduation present to remember. that's navy petty officer xavier

crown returning from deployment early to surprise his sister on stage at her high school graduation in upstate new york. ariana doesn't walk, she runs across the stage to get a long-awaited hug and her diploma. pure joy on their faces. there is nothing like family. it was desmond tutu who said, you don't choose your family, they're god's gift to you as you are to them. thank you for watching "nightline." as always, on our "nightline" facebook page. thanks for the company, america. have a good weekend.