For many of us, graduating isn’t just an important milestone in our lives, it’s a chance to show our parents that their sacrifices were worth it. Leslie Silva knew a part of her would be missing when she walked across the stage to get her diploma from Eastlake High School. That’s why two hours before her commencement ceremony, she crossed the Ysleta-Zaragoza International Bridge into Juarez to see her dad before graduating. “My dad was deported three times for trying to come back to his family,” she wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it it to any of my sisters’ graduations, including mine, so I gave him the honor to be the first to see me before I walk the stage.”
In the touching video that accompanied the now-private tweet, Silva – dressed in a purple gown and an orange hood – embraces her father, who started crying. “He was so happy,” she told El Paso Times. “He started crying, and I’ve never seen him cry. He said he felt really honored and he thought it was really nice of me to go see him before my graduation ceremony.”
Her dad, Mario Silva, was deported from El Paso in 2007. He was deported two more times attempting to re-enter the country. She hopes the video shines a light on how the struggles families face when separated. “He has missed a lot of me and sisters’ lives – graduations, parties, and everything,” she said. “…It’s nice to see that people can relate. That they have the same problems as me.”