Thirty families gathered in Queens, New York for the first time in decades during an emotional reunion. "Before I died, I saw my son," sighs Irene, the mother of the Hernández family, who had not seen each other in nearly three decades. The son, Gabriel, now 44, moved to the United States as a teenager. Since then, he has started a family with 4 children, one of whom is a U.S. Navy soldier.
See alsoImmigration in the United States: panic at the border with Mexico
His parents, Irene and Esteban Hernández, came from Mexico on a temporary visa obtained through the association Clube Migrante Chinelos Morenos en Nueva York. This association regularly organizes family reunification trips of only a few weeks to allow elderly parents who have not seen their offspring for 20, 25 or even 30 years to see their immigrant children who have become adults and remained without American residence permits. Like other nationalities, illegal Mexicans in the United States work there, pay their taxes and sometimes own their homes. But for lack of papers, they cannot leave the country without risking being stranded in Mexico. Since 2017, the association claims to have gathered 5000,<> families in New York.