A pregnant immigrant (not the teen profiled in this story) stands next to a U.S. Border Patrol truck in 2015 near Rio Grande City, Texas.
“There Was So Much Violence Around. I Felt So Alone. I Wanted to See My Mother.”
On the afternoon of Nov. 9, 2015, 17-year-old Sofia* and her 3-year-old brother, Samuel, crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. Traveling with five other children, they were attempting to reach the United States from Mexico. Sofia’s feet had swelled severely on the long journey from Honduras, her home country. She was also seven months pregnant at that time—and one among the growing number of pregnant and parenting teens appearing at the U.S.–Mexico border.
A fog lifts over the Rio Grande, which forms the U.S.-Mexico border, near La Grulla, Texas.
“They said we woud pay with our lives”
As Central American gangs increasingly target children for violence and sexual assault, more unaccompanied minors are heading to the United States.
Nuns protesting the alleged delay in action against Bishop Mulakkal, who is accused to sexually assaulting a nun (Photo credit: PTI)
Kerala nun Rape Case: A Moment of reckoning for the church in india
The present crisis also presents the Church with an opportunity to examine the failure in its leadership.