Thread by @nytimes

Ana Paredes paced back and forth in anxious anticipation at baggage claim, eyes fixed on the escalator. When the little girl emerged, she rushed forward to clutch and caress her — Melissa, the daughter she had not seen for seven years. nyti.ms/3tE6JBK

Melissa’s arrival in Los Angeles marked the end of a 2,500-mile journey that began in Guatemala in February, progressed over land through Mexico and then ended in a hazardous raft trip across the Rio Grande into Texas. nyti.ms/3bhgorg

Over the past six months, nearly 50,000 migrant children like Melissa have crossed the southwestern border on their own, an extraordinary new wave of immigration that has left authorities scrambling to open shelters and locate family members in the U.S. nyti.ms/3bhgorg

Unlike the migrant children separated from their families at the border under the Trump administration, many of the children arriving now were left behind years ago in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador by parents who traveled north to find work. nyti.ms/3bhgorg

The arrivals are creating joyous reunions across the country but also posing challenges for parents like Ana, who paid thousands of dollars to smugglers to ferry her child to the U.S. and now must help her daughter ease into a new, unfamiliar life. nyti.ms/3bhgorg

Read more about Melissa and the surge of migrant children at the U.S. Mexico border: nyti.ms/3bhgorg