Austin Airport Reunion for Child Who Crossed Border Alone

Scared and alone, Emely makes journey across the borderNews file folder

Austin, TX--In Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Glenda Valdez was reunited with her daughter Emely, after 6 years of being apart. Streams of tears fell as mother and daughter hugged and cried together. They had been separated years earlier when Valdez left her daughter to come to The United States in search of a better life.

They hugged and cried and hugged some more. While standing in the middle of the Austin Airport, Valdez whispered precious words as she was reunited with her daughter: “I love you so much,” she whispered in Spanish in her 9-year-old daughter’s ear. “My God, thank you.”

Any parent can imagine the heartache of being separated from one's child and not knowing when or if you will be able to see your child again. Most parents dream of the bond they imagine between a mother and her child, that she will always connect and be able to identify her baby--no matter how much time or distance has passed.

For Valdez, the bond between mother and daughter was proven. She recognized her daughter from an Associated Press news story that young people were crossing the border alone. Valdez saw the child in a red hoodie and immediately recognized her daughter, Emely.

Valdez had only had interaction with Emely through occasional video calls. Her father had custody, but Emely says she was unhappy in her father's home and that her stepmother was unkind. Her father was sending her away, she said, but she didn't know where, and she was placed in the care of an adult who made plans to help her cross the border.

Emely had been walking with a group of adults for more than six hours when Border Patrol agents found her in La Joya, Texas, she was crying uncontrollably and had lost a shoe.

KXAN Austin reports:

“I was thirsty and we didn’t have anything to drink and I didn’t like it and I didn’t know where I was going,” Emely said in Spanish on Sunday.

Emely no longer had her mother's phone number or contact information and did not know where her mother lived. She desperately tried to describe her mother:

“Her hair is curly, but sometimes she straightens it. And she has a lip ring.”

While she told agents her mother was expecting her, Valdez says she had no idea her daughter was being sent across the border.

Valdez sprang into action, calling U.S. authorities, the network, and refugee agencies. She was heartbroken by what felt like delays and the AP story was nearly a month old.

“I was like in shock, honestly, because imagine you are watching the TV and you suddenly see your daughter,” Valdez said. “And then even more to see her crying and everything she was saying broke my heart, honestly, everything she said there, that she was upset and crying and all that, and to see her image, barefoot and all was very difficult for me.”

As Emely awaits her court date in immigration court for a judge to rule on her case, she is enjoying the love and hugs of her mother and siblings.

Sometimes we get good news. GoodWordNews reports:

“Well the plan is all God wants and to be with her here,” Valdez said.

“Never be apart again. Ask God that we will never be apart again. To give her all the love I couldn’t give her. All that he lacks. Give her all I can and take her to school. That she has a better future, to remedy what happened a little.

In the Austin airport, a fairytale came true.

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