National

Migrant girl in viral audio, reunited with mother, wants 'happy ending' for other children

HOUSTON — A 6-year-old girl, whose cries were heard on a viral audio recording, was reunited with her mother Friday.

Alisson Ximena Valencia Madrid had a message for the nearly 3,000 other children still separated from their parents: Be patient and you, too, may have your happy ending.

The pigtailed girl smiled and nervously twisted the hair on The Little Mermaid doll she clutched as she stood to speak at a Friday news conference. As she sat down, she leaned against the shoulder of her mother, Cindy Alinette Madrid-Henriquez, who kissed her daughter on the forehead.

The girl wore the same contented smile earlier Friday and waved as she sat in her mother's lap in a van parked in a Houston airport.

That smile was as powerful as her cries for help added to a growing public uproar that forced President Donald Trump to order that family separations stop as part of his "zero-tolerance" policy on illegal immigration.

► July 13: Meet the judge who is forcing the government to reunite migrant families
► July 12: Migrant mother closer to reuniting with girl heard in viral audio
► July 12: Feds reunite 57 migrant children with parents after missing court deadline

The reunion happened more than a month after she was separated from her mother. The two were caught June 12 illegally entering the United States while rafting across the Rio Grande near Mission, Texas.

In secretly recorded audio provided to ProPublica last month, Alison is heard reciting her aunt's phone number to immigration officials amid a chorus of wailing children crying out for “Mami” and “Papá.”

"I think God used her," Madrid-Henriquez said Thursday. "He used all the people that up until now have helped make this possible. … I’m very proud of her."

On Friday afternoon, the two walked hand in hand into a room filled with reporters before the start of the news conference. Alisson couldn't help but smile at her mother as she clutched her doll.

She had to leave behind her collection of Disney princesses and nearly all of her belongings when they fled El Salvador together.

► July 12: Reunited or deported? Mother in ICE detention faces the inevitable
► July 11: 3 young migrant children reunited with their dads in El Paso

Until late Wednesday when she was released on bond, Madrid-Henriquez was detained in a Los Fresnos, Texas, facility. Alisson was flown from an Arizona shelter to Houston, where her mother was waiting to embrace her.

The mother-daughter reunion was a wild scramble throughout Thursday night and into Friday morning. Similar reunions have played out across the USA as immigrant parents and their young children have been reunited after weeks or months apart.

Madrid-Henriquez, 29, asked that media not be present for the reunion. The Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller Times honored her request for privacy.

Under a federal judge's order June 27 the Trump administration was compelled to reunite "tender age" children younger than 5 within 14 days. The deadline was earlier this week, and the government missed the deadline for most families.

Nearly 3,000 other children must be reunited with their families by July 26, according to the order.

Madrid-Henriquez has had an emotional three days as the grief of being separated from her daughter finally lifted late Thursday when she got word that Alisson would be flown to Houston.

Now — finally — the pair is back together.

Video shows Alisson walking hand in hand beaming at her mother as they walk out of the airport to applause with other family members in tow. The girl quickly gets into a van and sits on her mother's lap still smiling, still waving. An officer waves back.

Still, Madrid-Henriquez knows she and her daughter face an uphill battle to remain in the U.S. because her asylum claim, like so many others, could be rejected.

The thought of being deported after making the long trek from El Salvador to the U.S. overwhelms her. In an interview while detained, Madrid-Henriquez broke down in tears at the possibility of having to return to a country where a gang member nearly kidnapped her daughter.

For now, the two plan to remain in Houston. Madrid-Henriquez's sister, who lives there already, also is seeking asylum.

They left nearly everything behind when they fled because of gang violence, Madrid-Henriquez said. A gang member had tried to rip Alisson from her mother's arms one day while they were out shopping.

After that, Madrid-Henriquez said she knew she had to do whatever it took to keep her daughter safe.

In the airport parking lot, Madrid-Henriquez looked worn out after a crazy week of frantically working to reach her daughter. Alisson , still grinning with happiness, turned back and offers a friendly farewell.

"Hasta luego," or "bye," she said before hopping into the van.

Follow Beatriz Alvarado and Mary Ann Cavazos Beckett on Twitter: @CallerBetty and @CallerMaryAnn

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