‘We look forward to this all year long’: Hundreds of immigrants make dayslong road trip to reunite with families in Mexico

CHICAGO — When Gardenia Rangel arrived in her parents’ hometown in Mexico after driving with her family from Chicago for nearly three days, she was filled with nostalgia and gratitude.

She had done the same road trip with her father since she was a child every December, right before Christmas, and continued making the annual trip after she got married. In recent years, Rangel would drive to Mexico in a quasi-caravan with other families following her father’s lead.

This year, as the roads turned from pavement to dirt while arriving at her father’s beloved rancho in Guanajuato, Mexico, she felt his presence,