Francis Atwell, right, Congressman Cuellar’s district outreach coordinator for Webb County, presented the First Lady with a congressional certificate of recognition at TAMIU on Friday.

The visit was a follow-up to when Congressman Cuellar hosted the First Lady on a tour of the McAllen Border Patrol Facility and Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio in June 2014. It was the first time a representative from one of the Central American countries that are part of a surge of unaccompanied minors visited the border.

During her tour in Houston, San Antonio and Laredo, First Lady García de Hernández visited with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Refugee Resettlement and ICE officials regarding the treatment and status of unaccompanied migrant children and families from Honduras and other parts of Central America.

In Honduras, first Lady García de Hernández leads a commission, created by her husband, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, to help address the crisis of unaccompanied minors leaving Honduras. She has traveled to visit many immigration detention centers in the United States, where she listens to the stories of mothers and children who have taken great risks in search of opportunity. She advocates for the human rights of these migrants and ensures that their experiences are not forgotten.

About the First Lady of Honduras, Ana Rosalinda García de Hernández

Ana Rosalinda García Carias was born on September 21, 1969 in Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, Honduras. She is the daughter of  Jose Guillermo García Castellanos, a physician; and Carlota Carias Pizzatti.

Ms. García Carias received her Law degree in Legal and Social Sciences, with distinction, from the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) in 1991. Her major concentration was commercial law.

She met her future husband, Juan Orlando Hernández, while she was a student. The couple married in 1990, and they have three children: Juan Orlando, Ana Daniela, and Isabella.

She and her husband have lived in the United States, where she pursued a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Public Sector Management at the University at Albany, completing her studies in 1995. In 2002, she passed the Lawyer and Public Notary examination from the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras.

The couple first began their social services work in Lempira, Honduras, where they demonstrated their commitment to humanitarian work by aiding the neediest families in that area of the country. In 2006 they began what came to be called “Por Una Vida Mejor” (“For a Better Life”), a pillar of success in the Honduran government program for families. Vida Mejor emphasizes early childhood education.

While her husband was serving as President of the National Congress from 2010 to 2014, Ms. García Carias initiated, developed, and led social service projects through the Office of Social Development, building “Vida Mejor” to one of the most successful national programs. She has also had a major role in promoting the production of ecofogons (biomass cooking stoves) and the installation of water filters; aiding micro-businesses such as tortilla vendors and bakeries; establishing digital classrooms, student scholarships, English and math classes, empowerment training for women in handicrafts and personal skills; and promoting the expansion of orchards, and the installation of ceilings, floors, and toilets.  These efforts continue to operate through the office of the Secretary of Development and Social Inclusion of Honduras. 

As First Lady of the Nation, and working through state and faith-based agencies and institutions, she leads, coordinates, and promotes efforts that address diverse important social issues in Honduras, such as putting a national plan in place for the prevention of teen pregnancy.  In connection with the First Lady’s efforts to prevent child migration, the President has established, within the Inter-institutional Commission, the Task Force on the Migrant Child. The task force was created to reintegrate migrants who returned to their communities, with the goal of protecting migrant children. The Commission also supports various efforts on behalf of women, such as the prevention of uterine and breast cancer; and also works in areas addressing issues pertinent to very young children, the elderly, and the disabled.