Alexandra Alvarez anxiously waited on the second floor of LaGuardia Airport on Dec. 5, holding her baby girl Mia — just minutes away from midnight when the tot would turn one. She peered past the baggage claim conveyor belt and the hustle and bustle of the airport, fixing her attention to an escalator.
Alvarez longed for the mere glimpse of her husband, Manuel Mejia Hernandez. He had been separated from his beloved family on Oct. 22 when ICE agents detained him inside 26 Federal Plaza before going on an odyssey that would take him to an Arizona detention center. Hernandez has no outstanding criminal record.
After a long legal battle and weeks of despair, Hernandez finally descended the escalator that Friday night. He was still wearing the same clothes he had on the day he was detained. A bittersweet reunion, which could only be described as a Christmas miracle, soon followed.
Alvarez pointed Hernandez out to Mia. He rushed to the baby and instantly kissed her cheek, but she did not recognize him — for her, Papa had already been away for too long to remember his face.
Still, he scooped her up before embracing Alvarez in a tearful group hug, the airport Christmas tree glittering in the background.
Both parents fought back tears as those who had just landed gave them quick glances, unaware of the heartache they had been through. The family was finally together again.
“I feel a weight has been lifted. It’s like I am not carrying a burden anymore,” Alvarez said. “I’m so grateful to God and for everything that has happened. Because, despite everything, every day, in every situation, whenever things got complicated, a door always opened.”
Hernandez still bears a reminder of his detention, wearing a GPS ankle monitor on his left leg. He recounted what began as a routine check-in with immigration, turning into an odyssey through various detention centers and private facilities.
“They put us in shackles and transferred us to El Paso, Texas. During that trip, they tightened the handcuffs on my ankles too much. My ankles hurt. They even kicked me,” Hernandez said.
‘Every night I prayed’ for release, Queens father recalls
He described how the guards kept him and other detainees handcuffed and shackled for up to 48 hours, only feeding him a sandwich and an apple.
Once inside the detention center, he signed up to work in the laundry for just one dollar a day, folding used clothes and underwear to earn an extra plate of food. He saw that the detention center was fueled by donations while the detainees were kept without clean clothes, medical care, or basic human treatment.
“We came with the desire to get ahead,” Hernandez explained his frustration with the system. “The immigrant workforce is the foundation of this country.”
Despite the mistreatment, Hernandez sought refuge by reading the Bible with other detainees, where his only wish was to come back in time for his baby’s first birthday.
“Every night I prayed and said to God.’This is all coming to an end now. May it be the best gift to spend the first year with my daughter,” Hernandez said.
In November, amNewYork followed Alvarez in her Queens home as she worked to care for her family in the absence of her husband. With Mia in her arms, she shared that they fled Ecuador after their home was bombed, all because Hernandez attempted to steer young people away from drug dealing.
“You have to keep quiet because it’s worse to say that you know who they are because that costs your life. They’re going to kill your family,” Alvarez said, explaining that in Ecuador, this type of action often puts victims at much greater risk.
A celebration of freedom, and a special birthday
Throughout the fall, a dark cloud seemed to hang over Alvarez’s apartment as much as it did over her own head as she fought for the return of her husband. However, things were different on Dec. 6, as they prepared to celebrate their little girl’s birthday with a family gathering.
That cloud had lifted, and the home itself seemed brighter as the couple blew up balloons and fixed them above a bright pink birthday cake.
One by one, members of their family arrived to sing and celebrate the child’s birthday, as well as the reunion. Loved ones from across the city arrived to sing happy birthday to Mia, a celebration she would be told about for the rest of her life.
The family also thanked Father Fabian Arias of Saint Peter’s Church, Congressman Dan Goldman’s office, and their legal team for their assistance in helping to reunite them.
As the candles shine on their child’s birthday cake, Hernandez’s ankle monitor flashes as well – a quiet reminder that their future is still uncertain. The family blew out the candles, wishing for just one miracle: to be allowed to stay and to never have to be separated again.
The darkness that once lingered over the small family dissolved into a wash of color and love, their laughter spilling across the table as they shared a fresh plate of ceviche.
“Ten years working here, being able to retire and provide my daughter with her own –the same for my wife”, Hernandez said of his hope for the future. “To continue. To live peacefully. A peaceful life as I’ve always had.”
