San Diego , California ( CNN ) -- At last , a Wisconsin mother and her long-lost son met Saturday for the first time since her estranged husband spirited him away to Mexico more than 30 years ago . It was an emotional reunion in the San Diego airport , heightened by the fact that the mother speaks only English and her 37-year-old son only Spanish . David Amaya Barrick , whose father took him across the border at about age 2 from Chicago , was biting his nails just before his mother , Kathy Amaya , now 60 , appeared before him in the airport . They embraced , hugged and kissed -- the first time they 've laid eyes on each other in about 35 years . The son spoke in Spanish : `` I love you and I missed you a lot . I welcome you into my life . '' The mother declared to her son : `` I love you and I 'm very happy to see you and I 'm not going to let you go . '' Later , the son told reporters that he was at a loss of words . The mother remarked : `` He 's all grown up . '' Abducted son reunites with father after 13 years . The mother and son will spend a few days in San Diego getting to know each other again . They will do so during long strolls along the beach , they said . Then they will travel Tuesday to her home in Chippewa Falls , Wisconsin , where they will enjoy Thanksgiving together . Kathy Amaya , an assistant housekeeper at a hotel , has four adult children who are half-siblings to David Amaya . Two of those adult children live with Kathy Amaya . Saturday 's journey to see her son also marked another milestone in Kathy Amaya 's life : It was the first time she ever flew in a plane . The separation between mother and son spanned 1,800 miles and lasted more than 30 years . The mother counts the absence as 35 years , the son as 34 years -- an exact figure to be certainly figured out while they get reacquainted . The family saga then took a dramatic turn by how David Amaya was discovered : He was arrested illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at Imperial Beach , California , on October 30 . The U.S. Border Patrol thought he and a Mexican national were smugglers because they were in the company of six Romanian nationals . They were all arrested after crossing a flood control tunnel frequented by intravenous drug users and polluted by human waste . Bandits had earlier robbed David Amaya of his money and cell phone , leaving him only the clothes he was wearing . David Amaya did n't even have any identification cards on him . At first , he said he was a Mexican national , and then , as if he summoned a distant memory , he told Border Patrol agents that he was a U.S. citizen born in Chicago . Freed Iranian journalist , 'proud ' son dream of a reunion . Border Patrol agents checked out his story and indeed found his birth certificate -- as well as his mother , in Wisconsin . Complicating the drama are the conflicting parental accounts about the son 's relocation to San Luis Potosi , Mexico , where he was raised by paternal grandparents . Kathy Amaya said her estranged husband took the boy to Mexico without her permission and would n't return him . She mailed letters to the grandparents in San Luis Potosi , but those notes were never answered , she said . More recently , she searched for her son under the name `` David Amaya '' for years on social media , but she never knew that he was using her maiden name -- Barrick -- as part of his full name , a common practice in Latin America . Her estranged husband , who has n't made himself available for comment , told their son that his mother abandoned him at an orphanage because she did n't love him , David Amaya said . But after the father put the boy in the grandparents ' care , `` he almost never spent time with me , '' David Amaya said . At one point , the mother nearly lost all hope of ever seeing her son again , unable to make contact with him , she said . When the couple divorced in 1986 , they did n't settle on child custody , so police were unable to help her , she said . David Amaya will spend the holidays with his mother in Wisconsin for a month , and he hopes to speak with his father about what really happened to him when he was 2 or 3 years old . Then David Amaya will return to San Diego to build a new life . He was a drummer in a band in Mexico and now likes San Diego 's proximity to Mexico and its cultural atmosphere . Moreover , he 's taken a liking to a local church pastor , Freddy Rivas , who has helped Amaya with food and shelter since the Border Patrol released him this month . Amaya was recently baptized at the church . While in Mexico , he married and divorced , and his ex-wife and their two children live in Mexico City . As he makes a new home in San Diego , he says he will recount his life by writing a book .
Mother tell her long - lost son : ` ` I love you and ... and I ' m not going to let you go . '' Her son , now 37 , tells her in Spanish : ` ` I missed you and I miss you a lot . '' David Amaya Barrick was taken from Chicago to Mexico as a child by his father . He is discovered to be a Mexican citizen while illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border .