A daughter who joined the U.S. military with the goal of helping her parents reunite with their family in Mexico was finally able to make it a reality after 24 years apart. Gabi Lopez’s parents Blanca, 49, and Oscar, 50, migrated to the U.S. in 1999 in search of a new life to give their children the opportunity to go to school in America. As a child, Gabi, from Texas, remembers how much they struggled as it was almost impossible to find a job, but she said they did everything they could to make it work and never let the kids see their struggle. She also remembered watching them call family members back home, and how their faces would light up just by talking to them and keeping up with each other. So, after graduating high school in 2020, Gabi joined the U.S. Army to help her parents receive U.S. residency in an effort to repay the sacrifices they made for her and her siblings. And after graduating Basic Training, her family started the process of achieving U.S. residency, and the moment everyone had been waiting for would eventually arrive. Dad Oscar dreamed of showing up as a surprise to his siblings in Saltillo, Coahuila, so on the day they were gathered at his youngest sister’s house, he Facetimed them so they thought he was in the U.S. Then, with Gabi filming the moment, her parents arrived at the house with a mariachi playing the song "El Ausente" sending everyone into floods of tears as they were finally able to hug each other again.