Surly member does a good thing.
I was in the ATL airport a couple weeks ago, having just arrived and had a decent layover. I had several calls to make so I found an unoccupied gate to settle in a for a few minutes.
After sitting there for period of time, a young Hispanic fella approached me holding a young child. He presented a 5x8 card and my initial thought was he was deaf and needed something. He pointed to my phone and made a gesture as if asking if he could use my phone. I was taken aback at first and I could tell he wasn't deaf, but was trying to communiciate with me in Spanish. Having a very good Spanish background from my HS years in Dallas and having taken many Sp classes at UT, I was able to determine he wanted to call his mother in DC (the gate was for a later Dulles flight).
I communicated with him in Sp and asked for the number and told him I would call (I don't why I was so hesitant, it's not like he was going to run off). At this time he told me he was an immigrant and lifted his pant leg to show me his ankle monitor. We did not connect with his mother, but I asked where the mother of the child was and he pointed to very young girls in the corner. I waved her over and she too had a card and a number. After a successful connection they both broke down in tears. I asked if they had a ride upon arrival in DC, both nodded their heads and were about to walk off. I asked them the last time they had eaten. Couldn't really tell based on their answer, my Spanish is not great.
I walked them to the food court in B terminal and got them some food.
He told me they were from Honduras and had walked for 26 days to the Texas border. I asked him about the trip and he said very hard, scary.
Again, my Spanish is functional at best, but I could tell the kid was genuine.
Later that night, I texted the number to make sure the kids made it safe, to which she texted back yes and how appreciative she was of the efforts.
Here is the picture she sent me of her daughter. The boy and child are not pictured.