Families Reunited for Just Two Minutes as Officials Unlock US-Mexico Border Crossing Sophie Jane Evans - Dailymail.com
go to original April 28, 2015

With tears in her eyes, Yolanda Verona, from Tijuana, Mexico, bends down and embraces her seven-year-old granddaughter, Frida Villagomez - whom she has not seen in years - after the gate at Border Field State Park in California was briefly opened for Children's Day. (ZumaPress.com)

With tears in her eyes, a grandmother bends down and embraces the seven-year-old granddaughter she has not seen in years. In another scene, a man smiles blissfully as he hugs his emotional father.

These pictures show the moving moments men, women and children living in the United States were reunited with their deported relatives after the border gate to Mexico was temporarily opened on Sunday.

The steel gate at Border Field State Park in California, which was put in place in the mid-1990s, was unlocked by officials in honor of Children's Day, a Mexican holiday that celebrates youngsters and family.

And for selected families, it was a long-awaited, intense experience. Two young boys reportedly fell to their knees as they crossed into Mexico and saw their cherished mother for the first time in two years.

However, the pair, whose mother had been deported to the country while they were at school, only had two minutes to spend with her - because then it was time for another family to be reunited.

...Event organizer Father Dermot Rodgers said that while the brief reunions were held for Children's Day, they were also meant to draw attention to what he called a broken immigration system.

Many of the families were separated when relatives were deported to Mexico after living in the U.S. without documentation. The gate had only been opened to those affected once before, in 2013.

Read the rest and see photos at Dailymail.com

Related: How America's Immigration Laws Tore My Family Apart for Good (The Huffington Post)

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