The wife of a Mexican man who was accused of trafficking his own child on a United Airlines flight spoke out about the ordeal in a piece for the Huffington Post on Monday.

Maura Furfey, a Spanish teacher and mother of three, says that her husband and 3-year-old daughter were returning from a trip to Mexico to visit her husband's mother and great-grandmother, "who they see but once a year."

Driving over the George Washington Bridge to pick up my husband and daughter at Newark Airport after a week’s vacation in Cancun, México to visit his family, I received a call from an official from Port Authority. This person identified himself as a sergeant and proceeded to tell me that there was an ‘incident’ on the plane that involved my husband and daughter. My heart was in my throat ― I couldn’t even bring myself to respond because my mind was racing to grasp all of the possibilities of what could have happened on the plane. My biggest fear: were they hurt? The sergeant assured me that they were both fine, but I was already in shock, and it felt as if my whole world was closing in on me.

My husband is Mexican. I am of Irish descent. Our daughter, three years old, looks like both of us: she has dark hair and almond eyes with white skin. They had traveled to Mexico to spend time with his mother, her grandmother, who they see but once a year. This was precious time, time for my daughter to connect with her father’s side of the family, and I embraced them going, while I stayed home because of work. I had never imagined what would happen upon their return.