Immigrant families reunite at LA church after decades, and a border, apart
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Esperanza De La Cruz holds her mom Maria Elena Ruiz during a reunification event for families from Jalisco, Mexico, at St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church in Inglewood on Saturday, March 30, 2024.
(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Flowers, tears and hugs filled a church hall in Los Angeles as 33 families were reunited with loved ones – some for as long as 29 years apart – from Jalisco, Mexico, for Easter weekend.
The gathering happened at St. Francis Cabrini Parish, near LAX, on a rainy Saturday, March 30.
Inside the Imperial Highway church hall, one by one, family members’ names were called as more than 150 people gathered, waiting to reunite with their family from Mexico. The song “Bendecid Oh Señor Mi Familia” accompanied the ceremony, calling for blessing to the families.
Asociacion de Clubes Jaliscienses de California (Jalisco Clubs of California Association) helped in getting the families together.
Ontario resident Javiar Wenceslao, the organization’s president, has been involved for the last eight years.
The organization has been working for the last two years to get all the paperwork in order so that the family still in Jalisco could obtain travel visas allowing them to come back and forth from the U.S. to Jalisco for the next 10 years.
Families will get to spend three weeks together before loved ones return to Jalisco.
“Easter weekend was chosen because it is a special day to give thanks, and great happiness to the families on these special days: Holy week, Day of Glory and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Wenceslao, the president, said.
The church is named after a saint that migrated from Italy and also left her family behind to live in a foreign country, he added.
Most of the family from Jalisco were elders, many of whom hadn’t met grandchildren and even great grandchildren yet.
Valley Village resident Elizabeth de la Cruz has four children her mother met for the first time Saturday, ranging from five to 15-years-old.
De la Cruz came to the U.S. undocumented 17 years ago and hadn’t seen her mother since.
“It’s a lot of emotion because we haven’t seen each other in so long,” de la Cruz, 37, said in Spanish. “Especially my older brothers who haven’t seen her for 29 and 25 years, remembering memories from when we were little, it’s significant that we get to be reunited.”
More than 30 families are reunited with relatives from different towns in Jalisco, Mexico, including some who have not seen each otters for decades, and receive Easter Blessings at St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church on Saturday, March 30, 2024.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Her mother, Juana Seda Vázquez, age 70, is almost completely blind due to complications from diabetes. And, she almost didn’t make it to the reunification because of a bad fall that impaired her ability to walk.
“It’s extremely sad and hurtful knowing that she’s partially blind and this might be one of the last times she can see us before she goes fully blind,” de la Cruz said. “Our family worries time is running short and we won’t have many more years together.”
Pacoima resident Blanca Medina hadn’t seen her grandmother in five years.
When her grandmother, Maria Elena Ruiz, was reunited with her family, she was so overcome with emotions she sobbed for around 10 minutes.
Ruiz got to hold her one-year-old great grandson for the first time.
“I’m so happy,” Medina said.
Medina’s uncle, Cornelio de la Cruz Ruiz, hasn’t seen his mother in 21 years. He has been in the U.S. 30 years now and lives in Moreno Valley.
“It’s a blessing from God, a dream come true to see my mom again,” de la Cruz Ruiz said in Spanish. “I’m going to spend time with my family and I give it all to God, because through Him, anything is possible.”
The rain broke just in time for blessings for the families – provided by Auxiliary Bishop Matthew Elshoff, of the Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region – to be done.
“The rain was tears from angels over each one of us,” said Maximiliano Flores, president of Fundacion Jalisco USA, in Spanish while concluding the ceremony.
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