Separated by a border for decades, they finally get their embraces

Rare visas reunite undocumented workers and their parents

- By Kate Linthicum

Photographs by CHRISTINA HOUSE Los Angeles Times JOSÉ ANTONIO Rodríguez, 44, right, hugs his mother, Juana Contreras Sanchez, after 24 years apart.

José Antonio Rodríguez held a bouquet in his trembling hands.

It had been nearly a quarter of a century since he had left his family behind in Mexico to seek work in California. In all those years, he hadn't seen his parents once. They kept in touch as best they could, but letters took months to cross the border, and his father never was one for phone calls. Visits were impossible: José was undocumented, and his parents lacked visas to come to the U.S.

A GIFT for families hailing from Mexico's Zacatecas state and reconnecting after years.

Now, after years of separation, they were about to be reunited. And José's stomach was in knots.

He had been a young man of 20 when he left home, skinny and full of ambition. Now he was 44, thicker around the middle, his hair thinning at the temples.

Would his parents recognize him? Would he recognize them? What would they think of his life?

José had spent weeks preparing for this moment, cleaning his trailer in the Inland Empire from top to bottom and clearing the weeds from his yard. He bought new pillows to set on his bed, which he would give to his parents, taking the couch.

Finally, the moment was almost here.

Officials in Mexico's Zacatecas state had helped his mother and father apply for documents that allow Mexican citizens to enter the U.S. for temporary visits as part of a novel program that brings elderly parents of undocumented workers to the United States. Many others had their visa applications rejected, but theirs were approved.