Never Getting Rid of Me, Bitch (2023) - full transcript

So, what's Ocilla like?

Um, I mean, it's just...

It's a quiet, peaceful town.

People will tend to
their business and yours, too.

You know, small town,
population about 3,400.

Just, a lot of people
are attached to farms.

We... We take our football
pretty seriously.

We're passing the hospital
here on the left.

There's Irwin County Hospital.

We're just a nice place to live,
a nice place to be,

and try to keep things quiet.



And then every once in a while,
something happens

that gets national attention.

And unfortunately,
it's not for the nice,

laid-back quality of life
we have here.

Ocilla is a small,
unassuming town

in Southern Georgia

where a nightmare scandal
is unraveling.

A growing number of women say
guards from an ICE facility

brought them into
a local hospital, shackled,

and then a gynecologist
named Dr. Mahendra Amin

gave them unneeded surgery

without first telling them
or getting informed consent.

We've been investigating
these allegations for months.

After an initial whistleblower
complaint claimed



that Amin performed
mass hysterectomies,

Congress called on three
federal agencies to investigate.

To date, it's still ongoing,

and most of these women say
they still don't know

what procedures they underwent
and why.

This is Irwin County
Detention Center.

This is where many of the women
who have received

these controversial surgeries
are and were detained.

I don't see any women,

but I think
we should just go talk to them.

What's your sense
of what's going on?

The female detainee
told you that?

Oh, I see. How you doing?

Could you guys kind of
step back for me?

Lawyers filed
a class-action lawsuit

on behalf of 14 Amin patients

with sworn testimony
from more than 40 women.

It alleges
these gynecologic procedures

amount to sexual assault,

and the women who spoke out
faced brutal retaliation.

Immigration lawyer Amelia Wilson

is one of the lead attorneys
behind the lawsuit.

A lot of women didn't know
or understand

what had happened
to their bodies.

There were many women
who were having procedures done

that they did not need
and that were invasive,

meaning that there was
a surgery involved,

or they were placed
under anesthesia.

And many of the women
did not consent to it.

It's not that they were
saying no to the procedure.

It's that no one ever explained
to them what the procedure was.

- There was no informed consent.
- Exactly.

Those are the main allegations,

that they were victims of crimes
committed against them,

that they sought to come forward

to speak out about
what had happened to them,

and as a result,
they were retaliated against.

And the retaliation
took multiple forms.

A lot of women were threatened
with isolation, for example.

"If you're speaking out
to the media,

we're going to take away
your tablet

so you can't communicate
with your family."

But to sever their access to
their children or their families

was absolutely eviscerating
for them.

Soon after this lawsuit
was filed,

ICE temporarily released all of
the women who were named in it,

including a 37-year-old woman

who's now living
outside of Atlanta,

We've been in touch with a woman
named Mbeti Ndonga

for months now.
We started talking to her

when she was still inside
Irwin County Detention Center.

She's back home
at her parents' house,

and we're here
to check in on her.

These are just pictures
of my... my dad.

He coached soccer for us.

And we got acclimated
to the American society

very easily.

Mbeti came to the U.S.
from Kenya as a toddler.

She had a very
American childhood...

"Saved by the Bell," mac
and cheese, and soccer games.

Is there a part of you that
walked into the detention center

and just thought, "How am I
in ICE custody right now?"

I couldn't really believe it.

The very first time
I was locked up in ICE,

it was like a surreal dungeon.

Like you walked in, and...

there was l-loud noises,

the slamming of the doors,
the echoing in the halls.

Mbeti landed in ICE custody

after her life started to spiral
in her early 20s.

She wasn't being treated
for schizoaffective disorder.

Her green card expired.
She committed two felonies

and landed
at a detention center.

Two months later,
she was taken to see a doctor

for her heavy periods.

I thought
that I would be getting

a-a Depo shot,

because that's what...
That was my regimen.

That's what was prescribed
by a previous doctor.

So basically, it's...
it can act as contraception,

but it can also help
with symptoms

like heavy bleeding, for instance.

- Right.
- And had that worked for you

- in the past?
- Yeah, it worked for me.

And I don't know why
the doctor didn't re-suggest it.

In her records, Amin wrote

that Mbeti didn't respond
to a Depo shot,

but the records don't show
he ever tried it.

Instead, he's scheduled
a dilation and curettage,

or D&C,

a medical procedure that removes
tissue from the uterus.

The nurse, she asked me
if I was getting a hysterectomy.

I said, "No, ma'am,
I'm getting a D&C."

She asked again.

I remember being
really annoyed with her

that I had to, like,
explain to myself,

"I'm not... I'm not wanting
to take out my womb.

I don't know why you're asking
about a hysterectomy."

Moments before
I was supposed to go under,

she asked both... both me
and... and the other lady.

- Another detainee?
- Another... Yeah,

another detainee, if we were
having hysterectomies.

Did you turn to the other
detainee next to you

and... and say anything?

Yeah, I mean, I was like,
what did we get ourselves into?

And so, at what point
did you realize

you had actually had surgery,
not just a D&C... surgery?

I woke up, and they said,
"Be careful getting up."

And I was like...
I'm kind of like, "Why?"

And then I-I touched my body,

and I had three incisions,

one on my side,

one in my belly button,
and one on my other side.

The surgery and the procedure
isn't even half the story.

Later, I ended up
getting a staph infection

from that procedure,

and I never got a second
follow-up with doctors.

You never had another
follow-up appointment?

I never had a follow-up
appointment with Dr. Amin.

Records show that a follow-up
appointment was scheduled

for two weeks later,

but don't show whether
that visit ever took place.

Then, seven weeks later,

Mbeti tested positive
for a staph infection.

While Mbeti did sign
some consent forms

before her surgery
in August 2019,

she says she didn't understand
what she was signing.

Now, a year and a half later,
Mbeti still doesn't know

if she had a hysterectomy
or not.

It's just heartbreaking.
You know what I'm saying? To...

And that's something
she's always wanted,

just to have kids and, like,
you know, to have...

So the fact that
that might have been,

like, stripped away from her
is... It's heartbreaking,

and it's maddening.

And I hope that they didn't.
You know what I'm saying?

I really hope
that they went in there

and did the surgery
they were supposed to do,

that they said
they were going to do.

You know, to be honest,
I've brushed over the detail.

I remember running across an
article, it was earlier in 2020,

thinking, "Wow, that's horrible."

But then actually finding out
that my sister is involved,

I don't want to know the details,

because, as her little brother,
you feel...

You know, the more information
I learn about it,

the angrier I get.

What has been
your greatest fear?

Not being able to do
what a normal mother does,

you know? Have children,

watch them grow, and...

I mean, that's a very sacred thing,

and I-I feel like it's been kind of

threatened, immensely.

After Mbeti and
countless other women

suffered what they consider
medical torture,

they felt the worst
had to be over,

until the week of the U.S.
presidential election,

when they suddenly
faced their worst fear.

While the world was transfixed

by the most heated political
contest in generations,

ICE began quietly scheduling
these women for deportation

before many of them
had testified,

something Congress specifically
told ICE not to do.

Yanira Oldaker
was brought to the U.S.

when she was just 3 years old.

She says when she saw Amin,

he gave her
a transvaginal ultrasound.

She says she was rough
and caused her pain

and that she bled
for days afterward.

After this call, Yanira became
one of the women

that was temporarily released

as part of
the class-action lawsuit.

She's the lead plaintiff.

You and your team
were working overnight.

I mean, racing against the clock,

while Yanira, meanwhile,
was put in a bus

and was on the way
to her deportation flight.

That's exactly right.
The team worked without stop.

We were just like,
"We have to get something,

like a stay of removal,

temporary restraining order,
anything we can."

We got in touch
with her deportation officer,

and he said that her removal
had been stopped.

When ICE does something
like that, I mean,

how does it affect
a federal investigation

when these are potential
key witnesses?

ICE has a policy
to not remove people

who are part
of an investigation.

But we also know that
during the Trump years,

that policy was
not really followed.

I mean, we know even based
on our experience with Mbeti,

when I spoke to ICE
and said she is a victim, "A,"

"B," she is a witness, and, "C,"
she's a potential plaintiff.

Why are you removing her?

The response from ICE was,
"Our job is to remove people."

ICE denies any allegation

that they attempted
to impede the investigation

by deporting women.

The only thing protecting Mbeti
from immediate deportation

at this point
is the ongoing litigation.

And so far,

the Biden administration
hasn't intervened.

Are you concerned that
if her protections are lifted,

that she could be deported?

100%, because just before
this litigation really took off,

she was at imminent risk
of removal.

I just don't want her
to go away again.

I don't want her to be locked
in a cage.

I don't want her to be
alone in Kenya.

Feeling that Mbeti
was, like, isolated

and feeling like she was
going through this by herself,

that's the worst.

For me, it was... It was, uh...

It was pretty good
having both my kids here.

Mm-hmm.

She sang ABCs to my son for...

long time on the phone,

so to have that in person and my
daughter also be a part of that

was...

Ah, man. I'm sorry, guys.

My children
mean the world to me,

so it's good to see them happy

and experience something
with their aunt, you know?

And every day since
has been great.

We've spoken with women
in six different countries,

from Jamaica to
El Salvador to Canada,

who were deported
after seeing Amin.

Some of them still
haven't been contacted

by federal investigators,

begging the question,
just how many women are out there?

Why is it hard to know
exactly how many women

have been affected?

We're talking about
a deportation machine

or conveyor belt.

So all these women who came
through the detention center

and saw this doctor
is almost incalculable.

We tracked down
a woman named Yuridia

who was deported just three days
after she had surgery by Amin

in August 2020.

She's a single mom of six young
daughters and, like many others,

hasn't been contacted to testify
in the federal investigation.

Okay.

Sí.

Once Yuridia arrived in the U.S.,

she found work
and started a family.

But soon after, her partner
became abusive,

leading to a series
of domestic violence incidents.

In one altercation, Yuridia ran
to the neighbor's house.

They called the police.

When they arrived,
Yuridia was arrested.

Her partner was not.

Her daughters, all U.S. citizens,

were eventually picked up
by her sister

and brought to Mexico.

What was your first memory

of walking into
Irwin County Detention Center?

Why did you originally see
the doctor when you were there?

So you reported
that you had rib pain.

I guess, like, how did that
get you to the gynecologist?

Yuridia says
at her next appointment,

she was told she would
have to have surgery.

I have your... some of
your medical records here.

When you first went to see
Dr. Amin, did you have...

and I'm listing the symptoms

that are...
that are listed here...

Did you have chronic
pelvic pain?

The second diagnosis that he has
here is a medical term

that means basically
that you had a very heavy period

that lasted longer than normal.
Is that true?

The next one is that...
It's a medical term

for... for pain
during menstruation.

Like not more than usual

or not... nothing
out of the ordinary.

In the last six months,
Yuridia's attorneys have been

working to overturn
her immigration case,

which would allow her to return
to the U.S. with her daughters

and fight for a chance
at a green card.

While legal precedent shows
the chance of her making it back

is very slim,
her lawyer is confident

that she has a shot.

Aah!

This story became the target
of intense political debate,

with Democrats calling for ICE
to halt deportations

and Republicans calling
into question the allegations.

The AP's review did not find
evidence of mass hysterectomies.

A team of the country's
top OB-GYNs

determined that
while they did not find

that Amin performed
mass hysterectomies,

he did perform numerous
unneeded gynecologic procedures.

They reviewed more than
3,000 pages of medical records

for 19 women who saw him

and presented
their findings to Congress.

So, you were part of
the independent medical review team.

What did you find?

One of the first patterns
that we saw

was just basically
overly aggressive,

sometimes un-indicated care.

And sometimes,
that did involve procedures,

as well as surgical procedures,

so, in-office procedures
like transvaginal ultrasounds

that, you know,
weren't really indicated,

as well as even
surgical procedures

like laparoscopic procedures
that weren't always indicated.

You say it wasn't indicated.
Does that mean

there was no medical reason?
It wasn't medically necessary?

Correct.
So, not medically necessary.

Any time you take a woman
to the operating room

and perform a surgery,
there's risks.

You can have bleeding,
infections,

damage to nearby organs
like the bladder or the bowel,

damage to nerves,
surgical site infections, pain.

Another more disturbing thing
that we saw

was just lack of providing
informed consent.

We talk about
informed consent a lot,

and sometimes, it is diminished

to just signing a piece of paper.

But the actual consent process
involves an understanding

and a discussion between
the patient and the physician.

We didn't see evidence of that.

When you learned the Dr. Amin
wasn't board-certified

and was doing these surgeries

contracted by
the federal government,

did it surprise you?

It did.

And why is that?

For a vulnerable
population of women,

I would think
that our government

would be providing them
with appropriate care.

I am concerned when I hear

that this doctor
was not board-certified,

because I don't think that
that would be a premier doctor

for a woman to be seeing.

In a series of statements,
Amin denied all wrongdoing.

He and his lawyer
declined multiple requests

for an interview,
citing ongoing litigation.

One of the independent doctors

said it's possible
Amin saved a patient's life.

Dr. Amin's lawyer,
in a statement that he sent us,

he said that the records
that you all had access to

to do this review were severely
incomplete at best.

He said that because of that,

the review couldn't have been
conclusive or accurate.

What is your response to that?

Well, yeah, I would certainly

love to see more
medical records,

but from the medical records
that we did have,

we were able to come up
with the conclusion.

So I don't think any amount
of medical records

would corroborate
medical necessity

for many of these procedures
that were performed.

But I would welcome
seeing and reviewing

a complete medical record
for these women.

A group of independent doctors
has been reviewing

a lot of the medical records
of these female patients.

And they say the linchpin
of this investigation

are the pathology reports.

We've tracked down the
pathologist's courier,

who also happens to be
the pathologist's daughter.

She had a lot of insights on
how this whole operation works,

because she is the person
who picks up the specimens

from Dr. Amin's hospital

and transports them
to her father's lab.

We are going to Irwin County
Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia,

and that's where
I pick up specimens.

And I bring those back
to Crisp County Hospital

for Dr. Latham
to look at and diagnose.

And then we send those diagnoses

back to Irwin County
Hospital patients.

We reached out to a number
of medical professionals

who were in some way involved
with these surgeries

or specimens.

Arden Latham was the only one
who agreed to talk to us.

The specimens she transfers

are from general population
and detainee patients.

- You get to the hospital.
- Yes.

- And then what do you do?
- So, I'd walk over there

and go into the lab
at that point.

And they have all
the specimens out for me.

I just take the bags,
and as I put each jar,

each bag in the bucket,
I, you know,

mark off a list and initial
that patient's paperwork.

Right, so you're just verifying,

- "Yes, I have this organ."
- Yes.

- "Yes, I have this cyst."
- Yes.

On an average week, and I know
it's different week to week,

what are you picking up?

Ovarian cysts,
ovaries, sometimes,

fallopian tubes,

any kind of tumor or cyst
that has to do with,

you know,
the female reproductive system.

Is that consistently
for the last couple years?

- Yeah, pretty much.
- But when looking at the names

and when checking off,
you know, each patient,

did you ever notice,
I don't know,

any kind of pattern
that seemed unusual?

There are a lot of Spanish names.

A lot of that, you know,
can come with the area,

but it does seem
a little bit disproportionate

for the entire population of Ocilla,

demographically speaking.

At what point did you start
to piece together

why you were seeing
so many Hispanic names?

Um, not until recently,

'cause I didn't...
I didn't really know

that there was an ICE facility
until like a month ago or so.

- Wow.
- Yeah, it's total news to me.

So once I... once I heard
that there was an ICE facility,

I was like, "That's why there
are so many Hispanic names."

But before that,
I had never known why.

When Arden brings the specimens
to the lab,

her dad then decides whether
the tissues are cancerous

or otherwise need to be removed.

Was there a disconnect at times

between what Dr. Amin's
diagnosis was

and what your father was able
to discover or not discover?

I think definitely there was
sometimes a, you know,

"I'm not finding this."
And, um...

And... You know, and again,
there was a question of whether

a removal was needed or not.
So there was always a question

of whether he was overzealous
in that realm.

And those were conversations
that, I mean,

you guys were having before
this story became national news.

Oh, yes, absolutely.

When this story came up,

did you sort of feel the weight
of the types of specimens

that you were transporting?

If you're used to the same thing

over and over and over again,
you don't think about it.

There's no, like,
depth of thought of...

I mean, like, I knew that I had
to drive safely and carefully

so that I don't, like, spill anything.

So that does change, you know,
when you think of,

what if the... What if this
person didn't want this done?

And what if this is something

that someone now
is traumatized over,

and I'm just driving it around?

Why are you doing
this interview now?

Um, I think it's
the right thing to do.

Ocilla being so heavily
Caucasian and so rural

and in the the Deep South,
essentially,

um, the political opinion
of immigrants

is very, very negative.

There's a tendency to forget
that people are human beings.

And I just want to do what I can
to help justice be served.

Was there anything
that you learned

from seeing
the pathology reports

that allowed you to... to draw
certain conclusions or findings?

I mean, the pathology reports
just corroborated the fact

that procedures were being done
that were un-indicated...

so, for example, the description
of a simple ovarian cyst

at the time of
a laparoscopic procedure.

Really no alarm bells
that this could be a precancer.

And removing it and
sending it to pathology,

it's corroborated
that it's a follicular cyst.

So this is a normal portion
of someone's ovary

that did not need to be removed.

We reached out to Arden's
parents for an interview.

They refused to comment.
And Amin's lawyer

didn't respond to questions
about Arden's account.

But when we visited
the 3,000-person town of Ocilla,

people were anxious to defend
their hometown doctor.

The mayor of Ocilla, Matt Seale,
invited us to his local cafe

with the hopes of shining
a positive light on his town.

How did the community here react

when this became,
you know, a national story?

I mean, obviously,
it was very provocative.

So people were asking questions.

But the sense I got was that
folks were immediately skeptical

and just very unsure about, you
know, "What's all this about?

This doesn't sound right."

The way things
kind of get painted,

it was as if there's
some kind of dungeon

in the basement
of the detention center,

and we're just lining people up

and doing God-awful
things to them.

We have talked to many
other women who have said

they did have procedures done

that they felt
weren't consensual

and they felt were
not necessary.

And I would just say

if there's any kind of
allegation like that...

I mean, any kind of allegation
of that... of that kind

should be taken seriously,
should be investigated.

I mean, I wouldn't... Again,

and I don't think
there's any kind of,

"Oh, well,
this may have happened.

Let's sweep it under the rug."

That's...
That's not the attitude

of anybody in this community.

But that's... that's a far cry
from mass hysterectomies

and the claims
of things happening

actually at
the detention center.

But we as a community probably
know him a little better

than... than people
from the outside coming in,

no offense, with cameras

and asking, you know,
tough questions.

"Oh, these allegations, we need
to... We need to dig into this."

Well, the people
that supported him

were the people
that knew him best,

the people that
he delivered their babies.

Someone directed us
to a Facebook page

called
"We Stand With Mahendra Amin,"

which is fascinating. Look at this.

There are two
pregnant women here.

They're wearing T-shirts
that say,

"We stand with
Dr. Mahendra Amin."

There are more than 1,500 people

who are following it,
who like this page.

There are only 10,000 people
in this county.

He delivered
two of my grandkids.

How did the community react

when... when he was accused
of... of all this?

Well, a lot of people,
they didn't believe it anyway.

They still go to him,
you know, like my daughter.

She had heard it,
and she didn't believe it,

'cause, you know,
she still went to him.

So he didn't really lose
any patients or...

No.

You guys have this sort
of national scandal

that just landed
in your small town.

What are your thoughts?
People that was accusing him

was of... of Latino,

which, there's nothing wrong
with that right there,

but I don't know
if they misunderstand him

communication-wise.

Far as I know, I've never

heard anybody say anything bad
about Dr. Amin.

He's a good baby doctor and...

Would you, you know,
be open to the idea

that maybe Dr. Amin has done
great things for families here

in delivering babies

and treating them well...
He has, he has.

...but then also has maybe done
some unethical things, as well?

If he has, I-I-I had never
heard of it, seen it,

or I-I...

I'd have to see it
to believe it.

Thank you.

Why do you not believe
the allegations?

You don't hear anybody else
that's not in the prison

saying anything. I think...

I don't...
would still believe that.

What would be,
like, the incentive

for somebody to say this
if it wasn't true?

To make money. To get money.

To get their 15 minutes of fame.

I just... I just think
it's all made-up.

Mayor Matt,
as the town calls him,

isn't surprised by the support.
He says Irwin County Hospital

was at risk of going under,
and Amin basically saved it.

He may quite literally
have kept our hospital open

when others around us
are closing,

mostly through delivering
babies, like I said.

So I think that's why you saw
the groundswell of support.

People who knew him
knew the truth.

But lawyers for the plaintiffs

say his motivation
is directly linked

to him bringing
"business to Irwin County,"

that he did these surgeries
to bring in more revenue.

In 2015, Amin and the Hospital
Authority of Irwin County

settled a lawsuit that alleged

they billed
the federal government

for false Medicare
and Medicaid claims,

though there was
no determination of liability.

In 2018, he started seeing
ICE detainees.

Lawyers representing
Amin patients say

by increasing the number
and types of procedures,

he could bill the government
exponentially more.

I think Dr. Amin saw an
opportunity to... to make money.

So, first off, women,
nobody believes women

when they say anything.

They're immigrants.
They're in detention.

It was a great
opportunity for him.

And I'm afraid he's not
the only person out there

that opportunistically seizes on
detained people to make money.

As calls for the detention center

to be shut down intensify,
locals argue

it's the biggest
private employer,

and their county heavily
relies on its revenue.

How would the community
actually be affected

if that detention center
went away?

When you have
a multimillion-dollar facility

get... get knocked down
in assessed value,

and of course,
that has the trickle effect

of less revenue
by a significant amount,

yeah, that just..
that just affects everything.

So, it's not even
just our ability

to provide the normal services.

It's, we want to advance.
We want to make things better.

We want to provide
new amenities.

And that just, you know, the...
the ripple effect there is...

I don't know
if it can be overstated.

I've been to so many detention
centers in the United States.

I know you have, too.

They're very often
in rural areas,

remote,

places without a lot of work.

But that is not a reason to keep
the detention center open...

that people rely on it for work.

I don't believe it is.
Mm.

I don't believe
that you can justify

keeping an institution open
that is evil

because it it quells
or minimizes another evil,

which is, like, poverty
and lack of education

and lack of opportunity.

On May 20th, the Biden
administration intervened.

They directed ICE
to end its contract

with Irwin County Detention
Center as soon as possible,

effectively guaranteeing that it
is shut down as an ICE facility.

All of the female detainees
have already been removed.

In addition to the women
who have already been deported,

we've also found
several other women

now released
and living in the U.S.

who saw Amin

and still haven't been contacted
by federal investigators.

Hey!

One of those women
is an Anne Alobwede.

I'm good.

How are you doing?

Yeah, I know.

I got out December 16th.

- Oh, wow, that's...
- Right before Christmas. Yeah.

Yes, ma'am, I did. That's...

Anne came to the U.S.
from Cameroon as a teenager.

She was the patient
lying next to Mbeti

on the day of their surgeries.
22 months.

This is the first time they've
spoken since being released.

Are you having complications,
if I may ask?

Really?

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah, something went wrong,
because I...

I was still having pain, and...

Yeah.

Yeah. Me, too.

For the first time
since her surgery,

Mbeti has a doctor's appointment
to learn what happened to her.

I'm kind of nervous

and a little bit anxious,

so we'll see what kind
of information I can get.

This is a moment

that all of these women
have been waiting for,

you know,
just having an appointment

after they leave
the ICE facility

with an independent doctor

who can just tell them
what happened to them

and what their health status is.

And specifically for Mbeti,
she has one big question.

Will she be able to have kids?

According to Mbeti's records
and Dr. Mueller,

Mbeti was given
an unnecessary ultrasound, D&C,

scar tissue removal,
laparoscopy, and cystectomy,

the surgical removal
of a follicular cyst

that didn't need to be removed.

While Mbeti didn't get
a hysterectomy,

she could still have trouble
carrying a pregnancy.

It's important to remember
that surgical procedures,

even if they weren't
hysterectomy,

can have bearing on
a woman's future fertility.

I had a look at the ultrasound,

and if I were to get pregnant,

I would have
a complicated pregnancy.

And that's what I'm really
thinking in the back of my head.

It was a relief to see
that I had my uterus.

I know that I still have
a long way to go.

I mean, being a mom is...
is almost every girl's dream.

Having that threatened is...
is really very scary.

While the class-action
litigation is still pending,

Mbeti's lawyers are working
to secure her a new visa

which protects victims
of criminal activity

who testify in that investigation.

If both are denied,

Mbeti could be immediately
deported to Kenya,

where she has
no support system.

After an intense legal process,

a U.S. judge agreed to reopen
Yuridia's immigration case,

an outcome so rare that
experienced lawyers only see it

a handful of times in their career.

This means that Yuridia
and her daughters

can now legally reenter the U.S.

We're back in Saltillo to visit
with Yuridia and her family.

Against all odds,
Yuridia and her six daughters

will be getting on
a flight tomorrow for the U.S.

to start the process
to get permanent status.

How are you feeling
about tomorrow?

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday ♪

How do you imagine the moment

when you step foot
back in the U.S.?

So, we're just getting out
of customs and baggage claim,

and they haven't made it out yet.

We were told
to go one direction,

and the ICE officers
took them into another office.

So now really, it's just...
It's a waiting game.

Yuridia's immigration attorneys

have been preparing
for this moment for months.

If Yuridia makes it
through immigration,

this will be the first time
they're meeting.

How you guys feeling?

Excited. Overwhelmed.

We didn't expect it
to take as long as it did,

but we're just glad
that it's here.

I mean, we've thought about her
and the kids for so long,

and we've never met her.

So we're just beyond excited
to meet her in person.

Is there anything that's
concerning you right now?

Honestly, just her getting here
to be with us,

and then once... Like, it just
has felt really difficult,

her being so far away

and, like, things being
so out of our control.

So it feels reassuring
to have her here

and feel like we'll have
a little bit more control

over how things go
and the flow of the case.

And going forward,
we'll see how everything goes.

She get through customs?

She said
so I'm asking her...

- Okay.
- ...what is next.

She's typing.

Okay.

What is it, 100 person?

Yeah. Oh, the office is asking?

Yes, I texted it
to her earlier.

She said they're almost done.

Oh, great. Okay.

We're going to burst.

That's them. Is that Yuridia?

Oh, you guys are so cute!

Nice to meet you!

Yuridia and her daughters
have started

to rebuild their life again
in the U.S.

while her immigration case
continues to unfold.

- Cheese!
- Cheese!