This program provides seniors with long-awaited hugs with their distant children

DALLAS -- Families bearing balloons, flowers, and signs crowded gate D22 at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, among them Juana Guzmán, eagerly awaiting a hug from the parents she believed she might never see again.

Those gathered were waiting on a flight from Mexico City, from where 28 elderly Mexicans were being whisked away for a visit to America — and their loved ones — through the humanitarian program Lazos de Oro, Golden Ribbons.

Lazos de Oro helps seniors plan reunions with their adult children who they haven’t seen in years because of their immigration status.

At gate D22, time crawled by.

“I have waited almost 25 years for this hug, for this moment. Waiting a few more hours is nothing,” said Guzmán, a McKinney resident born and raised in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero.

Nearly two hours after the plane landed, the group of elderly adults in blue vests walked through U.S. Customs and Border Protection and out the sliding doors for their reunions. Children and grandchildren ran into the arms of elderly parents for a long-awaited hug.

Susana Infante Cruz, 75, and her husband, Juan Guzmán Ceballos, 80, boarded a plane for the first time to get to Dallas. Between tears of joy, the couple embraced their daughter Juana Guzmán, 50, and son José Guzmán, 45, more than two decades after the siblings migrated to Texas for a better life for their own children.

Lazos de Oro works with separated Mexican families, like the Guzmans, to help older adults navigate the visa process. From filling out the paperwork to scheduling interviews with the U.S. Embassy, to coaching them on what to expect at the interview and getting them to...