american citizen because customs didn t allow her grandfather to enter the u.s. the family s attorney david sperling captured these emotional reunion pictures. he joins me now by phone from new york. david, you tweeted, mission accomplished, after emily s arrival. tell us briefly how that reunion was with her family. it was very moving and very emotional. mr. ruiz, emily s father, had tears in his eyes and they were hugging together, both the father, the mother, emily and her little brother. it was very, very emotional, and i m thrilled that i played even just a small part in helping to bring that about. this was a terrible injustice what happened and we re really happy that it s rectified and we hope that nothing like this ever happens again. tell me how she was treated. i m curious, by the immigration officials during her trip back. oh, they treated her like
animals to their natural habitat, end of story. radonna said obviously these wonderful creatures would die if put back into the wild. what about better habitats or sanctuaries? yusuf said the whale has killed someone, already had behavior issues, it should be retired by law. this from duane personally, i don t have an opinion. if you want to go to the show, go. if you don t like the situation, don t go. join the conversation on aur blog, cnn.com/ali. the conversation continues. you can also post on facebook and twitter. we ll share your comments, of course, as we continue to get them. a 4-year-old girl caught up in the middle of an immigration dispute is back in the u.s. emily ruiz was reunited with her family this morning after arriving from guatemala. she was deported there a few weeks ago even though she was an
royalty. in fact, one of the cbp customs and border patrol officers called her the princess of miami, and then later another cbp official in atlanta said it was the least that we could do. it was a remarkable turnabout. it was like night and day. on march 11th, emily was sleeping under a bench. she was cold and hungry. and nobody cared about her. and yesterday she was greeted at miami international airport by the port director, the cbp we just have about a minute left. i know this all started because there was some question about her grandfather s paperwork when they tried to come back from guatemala. she had been there nursing some asthma for some time. yes. but were her parents i m curious given the option to pick her up at the airport or were they told that she had to go back to guatemala?
automatically. how much do you think politics played a role here? well, i think there isn t a hostile environment in the united states towards undocumented immigrants. no question about that. but i think that emily s case really puts a huge face on it. she is a u.s. citizen, has all the rights of a u.s. citizen, so does her little brother. her parents are undocumented. there s 11 million undocumented people in the united states, but most of those people are part of mixed families. some of the members are legal, others are illegal. it just points out the need that we need immigration reform, common sense immigration reform. that s crucial and we re calling on the immigration to do something about it right now. david sperling, so glad we got you on the phone to share emily s story and homecoming. the pictures of her in her own bed certainly are adorable. thank you. new stadium, new
welcome back to msnbc. i m contessa brewer. a 4-year-old citizen is back in the united states after getting stuck in guatemala. emily ruiz was there visiting her granddad. he tried to bring her back to the united states but couldn t because of an immigration violation. virginia tech was fined $55,000 for taking too long to notify students during a 2007 deadly shooting rampage. the school plans to appeal. the kll whale w killed a seaworld trainer lastyear will perform rirsttime since the incident. she will participate in the believe show. and antonin scalia caused a four car accident on the way to work yesterday. no one was hurt but he was issued a $70 ticket. world leaders are split over whether to arm libya s rebels.