Immigrant women facing bittersweet Mother's Day

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- For some immigrant mothers in Southern California, this upcoming Mother's Day is a bittersweet holiday.

A number of undocumented mothers with the pro-immigrant group CHIRLA shared their stories to highlight and humanize the choices that immigrant women sometimes face.

One woman, Maria, crossed the border and left her family in Mexico City 18 years ago to support them in the United States. Since then she has only seen her son in pictures.

Diana's mother brought her to the U.S. when she was 1 years old. She has limited protection as a DACA recipient. In the last two months she's had a baby and graduated from college.

"And now that I have a daughter and have a 2 month old, I understand my mother and I think I would have migrated if I were in her position 24 years ago," she said.

In marches and rallies they hope their numbers leverage action in Washington for immigration reform. To doubters and critics, they say look at why mothers fled in the first place.

"If they didn't have poverty, if they didn't have war, if they didn't have political strife back home, they wouldn't have the urge to leave their home countries," Diana said.