Gloria Arellano de la Rosa, right, hugs her daughter, Naomi, after returning to the United States in Nogales, Ariz., on Jan. 20. After 14 years in Nogales, Sonora, separated from her four U.S.-born children, de la Rosa was finally granted a green card this month. In 2009, on the advice of an attorney, she’d traveled to Mexico to regularize her undocumented status and instead discovered she was subject to a 10-year ban on re-entry.

 Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

NOGALES, Arizona — Just after Gloria Arellano de la Rosa and her son Bill exited the DeConcini Port of Entry and stepped into Arizona on Saturday, the pair stopped to embrace one another, standing in front of the port’s gates as a crowd of supporters looked on.

Then, holding her son’s arm, Gloria approached the group and one by one, tearfully hugged her three other children, Naomi, Jim and Bobby, who were holding balloons and a sign that read in Spanish, “Crossing the border into our arms.”

After 14 years living in Nogales, Sonora — separated from her family in Tucson by the complexities of U.S. immigration law — this weekend Gloria was finally able to come home for good, about a week after receiving her long-awaited permanent resident card.

“I’m a very grateful mother,” Gloria told the family, friends and media gathered near the border in Nogales, Arizona to document the moment. “I’m incredibly excited, grateful to all my angels, to all the people who were here persevering for this reunion.”

Speaking in Spanish, she thanked God and her family’s supporters in Tucson, as well as the United States for giving her another chance to live in the country she loves so much.

“I love every little part of this land, and I love its people,” she said. “I thank this country that is giving me an opportunity once again to be here, in the promised land.”

She also thanked Arizona U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva for his support over the years, including his work in 2018 to help Gloria secure a 30-day humanitarian pass that allowed her to visit her husband Arsenio in Tucson before his death.

Bill de la Rosa, left, walks with his mother Gloria, out of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz., to reunite with family on Jan. 20. After 14 years in Nogales, Sonora, separated from her four U.S.-born children, Gloria was finally granted a green card this month. In 2009, on the advice of an attorney, she’d traveled to Mexico to regularize her undocumented status and instead discovered she was subject to a 10-year ban on re-entry.

To see her husband in such poor health after a stroke “filled my heart with sadness,” she recalled. “I would have liked to be there with my husband to care for him 24 hours a day. … I was helpless and unable to take care of him.”

She recounted the emotional toll of the years of separation, going to bed anguished each night, fearing one day she’d get word that one of her children was sick and she wouldn’t be able to visit them.

Knowing how her kids missed her, “I suffered day and night for 14 years,” she said.

She appealed to elected officials to think more about the traumatic impact of family separations on children.

The de la Rosa family was the subject of a 2015 joint project by the Arizona Daily Star and Arizona Public Media called “Divided By Law,” which detailed the family’s painful separation and the impact on Gloria’s four children.

In 2009, on the advice of an attorney, Gloria traveled to Juarez, Mexico, to apply for a permanent resident card, also called a “green card,” following years of living undocumented in the U.S. after her visa expired.

Although she had a U.S. citizen husband and four American children, she discovered she was subject to a 10-year ban on re-entering the U.S., under a 1996 law meant to penalize those living in the U.S. illegally. It took four more years to go through the process to get a green card.

“Fourteen years and 99 days later, my mom is finally home,” said Bill on Saturday. He gave credit to the family’s attorneys and Grijalva, as well, “who has been relentless in advocating for our family.”

“It’s not just us. Every single day families are being separated,” said Bill, 30, who has spent half his life navigating the U.S. immigration system as he advocated for his mom’s return. He’s now in his first year at Yale Law School, where he’s studying to become an immigration attorney.

“Every single day there are families that want to regularize their status and they cannot, because the laws we have on the books don’t let them,” he said.

Gloria’s youngest son Bobby — now 18 and a freshman at the University of Arizona — was only 4 years old when Gloria left.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day since I was a kid. It’s super surreal,” Bobby said on Saturday. Before his mom crossed the border into Arizona, he couldn’t stop thinking that somehow, something would go wrong.

“I was super nervous,” he said. “It’s really reassuring knowing that she’s actually here to stay.”

His sister Naomi, now 23 and working in Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva’s office, said she shared the same worries.

“I feel so relieved,” said Naomi, who was 9 when Gloria learned she had to stay in Sonora. “My mom’s back, and that’s all that matters.”

When Bill arrived in Nogales, Sonora to escort his mom back to Arizona on Saturday morning, he felt some nostalgia to see her apartment emptied out. He and his siblings had come there to visit and to celebrate holidays with her, he said.

“It was emotional to see,” he said. “That’s the apartment that kept her safe while she was separated from us, while she lived across this wall. We had our own memories there. Those memories we’re leaving behind, and we’re coming to form new memories.”

The family planned to travel back to Tucson on Saturday, rest and have a family meal together.

“We look forward to having freedom: the freedom to plan, the freedom to think about what comes next, the freedom to hope. It’s hope and faith that kept us fighting to this day,” Bill said. “It has been a long and painful journey. We’re just going to enjoy each other’s company for now.”

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Contact reporter Emily Bregel at ebregel@tucson.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @EmilyBregel