Asylum seeker celebrates family reunion in the U.S.

On the weekend marking World Refugee Day, one word that was on the tip of asylum seeker Andy Molina's tongue was 'happy'.

On Friday the 27-year-old Honduran and his daughter would cross the border from Mexico into Texas.

Molina spoke of plans to reunite with his wife and older son in the United States, after two years of separation.

They had left Honduras several months before Molina, and entered the U.S. separately.

But a Trump-era program forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for court decisions, often in the dangerous northern cities.

Molina and his 10-year-old daughter Eleana became stuck in Mexico for more than a year.

He says he left Honduras out of concern for his children.

There he was forced to pay a so-called 'war tax' to gangs, who threatened to kill him if he did not comply.

Now shortly before crossing the border, Molina says he just wants to focus on the positive.

He was one of a group of 74 people allowed into the U.S. to pursue asylum applications over the weekend.

Cuban citizen Amelin Acosta was another.

"It has been a complicated process. Many delays, a lot of anxiety, nerves waiting for answers to be given to us. Today is the long-awaited day."

After President Joe Biden took office, he began rolling back Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols.

Of the thousands of asylum seekers gathered in Mexico under that policy, more than 95% were allowed to entered the U.S. to pursue their cases.

Hand-in-hand, Molina and his daughter crossed the border into Texas on Friday.

Acosta and her family were right behind them.

She says she is hopeful for a new opportunity for them to improve their lives in a free country.