Houston 'Dreamer' Reunited With Family After 6month Nightmare In Mexico Thanks His Supporters

DACA recipient, wife and mother thank supporters who helped bring him home to Houston

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A Houston family caught up in an immigration nightmare thanked the people who helped end it Tuesday in an emotional news conference filled with happy tears and hugs.

'Dreamer' Jaime Avalos returned to Houston Monday and was reunited with his family after the six-month nightmare that left him stuck in Mexico.

The DACA recipient was able to return to the United States on Monday thanks in part to the work of Houston U.S. Rep. Al Green and his immigration attorney Naimeh Salem.  

“I’m really happy. As soon as we landed, I thought it was just a dream until I stepped foot in Houston,” Jaime said. “And it’s so amazing and I’m really, really thankful for the team that I had behind me.”

Green said the thing that touched his heart the most was the reaction of the 1-year-old son of Jaime and his wife Yarianna. Noah recognized his father immediately even though he was just 6 months old when they were separated.

“When he saw his father and the way he embraced his father, it moves your heart to see a child so engaged that the child recognizes the father immediately,” Green said.

Avalos' wife and mother also thanked the Houston congressman and the media for sharing their story.

"Because of you guys, everybody spreading the word and awareness for us we are here today able to welcome my husband home," Yarianna Martinez said.

Green made it his personal mission to get Avalos back to his wife and son in Houston.

“This is about more than the border and what’s happening at the border,” Green said Tuesday. “This case gives us reason to understand that there are families that are involved and families are suffering.”

This family's ordeal started in August 2022 when Avalos traveled from Houston to Cuidad Juarez in Mexico for what he believed would be an immigration interview required to achieve permanent residency. 

When he tried to return, he realized he was barred from re-entering the U.S. Immigration laws banned him from returning for 10 years because he left and returned with his mother once before when he was 7 years old.

"I thought I was going to stay in Mexico for the 10 years," Avalos said Tuesday. " I'm really grateful in 6 months I came back home. I'm really happy to see my wife and my kid."

Avalos is a "Dreamer," or DACA recipient, who was supposed to be protected from deportation. He was brought by his parents to the U.S. when he was 1. He's lived in Houston his whole life, graduated from Bellaire High School, and married a U.S. citizen.

Green introduced a private bill in the House in November seeking permanent resident status for Avalos.

He visited Avalos several times in Mexico over the last few months. He even requested that he be allowed to return to the U.S. under humanitarian parole. That humanitarian parole was finally granted was granted by the Biden Administration.

WATCH: Mom gets emotional after Houston DACA recipient reunited with family after 6 months (En Español)

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Deported with their children separated, mothers hope to be reunited years later