. >> reporter: high school senior yovanny and his mother leticia have paid a heavy price for freedom.led guatemala in the fall of 2017, but like so many others were detained at the border in texas when they tried to claim asylum. leticia was eventually deported and yovanny was placed in the foster care system under a pilot program for what later became the trump administration's zero tolerance policy that split families apart in an effort to deter migration at the border. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: yet in many ways that pain has been politicized and debated in congress. just this week the senate judiciary committee questioned dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas over reports that the biden administration is considering settlement payments for migrant families separated under the trump administration. according to the aclu, payments of some sort have been part of an ongoing federal lawsuit that seeks damages for those separated families like yovanny and leticia. >> if, in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration you coming across the border, wheth