I was only 7-year-old when they caught me alone at the Guatemalan border.  I was so scared I thought I would die.   When the gangs moved into my village, it became violent and dangerous. My mother left hoping to make a better life in the United States.

She worked for 3 years as a migrant worker picking vegetables to fulfill her promise to bring me to her.  She paid my guide $2000 to smuggle me across the border.

He was abusive and forced me to walk day and night without food or water.  When the authorities found out that we were close to the border and trying to cross they began to chase us, the guide abandoned me because I was too slow and weak to keep up. I’m tired of being hungry and afraid.  I miss my mother and I don’t know if I will ever see her again.