Laura Hernandez spent seven years avoiding her Pittsburg home’s backyard. The place that was so lively for over 20 years became another reminder of her parents’ absence while they were unable to legally leave Mexico.

But thanks to help from the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, the Hernandez household is once again the place where weekly dinners and family hangouts happen.

The IIBA helps immigrants, refugees and their families by providing high-quality, affordable immigration legal services, education and civic engagement opportunities. “We give a voice to people who are underrepresented,” senior representative Llanet Ramirez said.

The Hernandez family had already been in contact with IIBA for years when their eldest son, Jean Carlos, was deported in 2016.

He then fell gravely ill, and his mother Emilce and father Manuel were faced with an impossible choice.

As undocumented immigrants, they knew that if they went to Mexico, getting back to the country they had lived in for over two decades would be extremely difficult. They went anyway, leaving two of their children — an adult and a teen — behind in the U.S.

The worst-case scenario happened.

Jean Carlos died in December 2017, and Emilce and Manuel were stuck south of the border. Manuel took up agricultural jobs in the field as the family — along with IIBA — worked to reunite.

Ramirez tried to find a way to get Emilce and Manuel a U-Visa, which would allow them to return to the United States. The months stretched into years, and it was difficult to stay hopeful. After nearly seven years of ups and downs, their visa was approved in December 2023.

When the bus arrived in the South Bay on Dec. 13, the family had a joyous reunion. “It was an emotion I can’t explain,” Manuel said. “It is the most happy I have been in a long, long time.”