Jose is a fifteen-year-old boy with a passion for learning and watching soccer. Growing up in El Salvador, he dreamed of becoming a computer programmer, but was acutely aware of the insecurity in his community. Over several years, Jose and his family had felt increasingly wary of the growing gang presence in their neighborhood. Their concerns heightened when a gang began selling drugs from a building next door to their house. One day in July 2019, two gang members approached Jose’s father as he was entering his house. Armed, the men tried to pressure Jose’s father into using his position as a part-time Uber driver to traffic drugs and guns for them. From his bedroom, Jose could hear the men threaten to kill his entire family if his father refused. Terrified, Jose and his family fled to the United States a month later in search of asylum.

At the border, Jose and his family were turned away and forced to return to Mexico under the Remain in Mexico policy. There, they lived in a makeshift tent in the Matamoros encampment and struggled to find food. Jose grew despondent and anxious, worrying that his family would not survive or would be sent back to El Salvador.

In December 2019, Jose and his family appeared before an immigration judge in a tent court at the border. The judge did not ask Jose whether he feared being returned to Mexico or El Salvador, and Jose—who did not understand the immigration proceedings—did not raise such fears. Jose and his family’s asylum claims were denied, and they were returned to Matamoros.

While in the encampment, Jose and his brother walked alone to the border gate, desperate for protection. They were designated as unaccompanied children and transferred to government custody. Later, a clinical social worker and forensic evaluator examined Jose, previously an innately calm child, and found that he exhibited signs of anxiety and depression, including loss of appetite.

Since then, Jose and his brother have been released from government custody so they could be with their uncle and his family in the United States, but their parents remain trapped in Mexico.

Child’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.