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In San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a family waits to hit the road, heading to the United States, January 14, 2019. REUTERS / Jorge Cabrera

They had left Honduras in January with a caravan of migrants. Almost a year later, what has become of the family that RFI had met in San Pedro Sula?

It was to flee the racket of MS13, the gang in their neighborhood, that they decided to flee Honduras. We met Luis * , his wife and two children, in January 2019 at the San Pedro Sula bus station, the starting point for a caravan of migrants.

Their goal: to reach the United States to file an asylum request. “ I had my own business, a small grocery store, says Luis. But since September, we started to be racketeered. Here in Honduras it's okay to pay the gangs. Because if you don't pay, they threaten to kill your family. "

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But very quickly, the income from the grocery store no longer makes it possible to pay the “ pisto ”, the “ war tax ” demanded by the criminal group. Luis learns on social media how to organize a caravan of migrants . In two days, by putting only a few relatives in the confidence, he decides to flee with his family by abandoning everything behind him.

A month. It is the time that Luis, his wife and children will take to reach the American border, on foot or by hitchhiking, after crossing Guatemala, then Mexico. They remember the hospitality of the Mexicans, but also the cold and the illnesses of the children, weakened by hours of walking.

" We still haven't forgotten what happened during this trip ," Luis says today, contacted by phone. The places we slept, the kidnappings, the dead, because we saw it all on our way. Vans stopped and abducted entire families. When we arrived in Laredo, Texas, everything changed. Life has started to change . ”

A new life in Ohio

In Laredo, the Honduran family files an asylum request. Others will not be so lucky and are still waiting on the Mexican side of the border. For several months, the Trump administration has sought to curb the arrivals of migrants from Central America. Washington has notably signed agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras so that asylum seekers wait for their cases to be processed in a third country, and not in the United States.

Passed in extremis before the application of this measure, Luis and his family began a new life in Colombus, Ohio, in the north of the United States. Luis and his wife have obtained a work permit and live odd jobs. “ Finding work is easy. But these are jobs reserved for migrants, poorly paid, or even not paid at all. But at least, explains the father, we are safe for now ”.

Their presence in the United States is still suspended from the decision of an Ohio court which will soon rule on their asylum claim. The hearing is scheduled for late September 2020, just before the next presidential election, and their lawyer is not very optimistic.

" He told us that out of a hundred people who seek asylum, sometimes only five get it ," says Luis. If the judge says to us: "you must leave the country" , we will appeal. Our lawyer will try to extend the asylum process from 5 to 8 years, and see what happens during this time . ” Objective: hold until the election of a new president. “ The lawyer says that with this president, it is very complicated for Latin Americans. He doesn't want us ”.

" The gang found my American cell phone number "

Returning to Honduras is not an option. Luis maintains that members of the gang quickly found his American mobile number and keep reminding him that they have not forgotten it. His priority: to protect his 14-year-old son, who had a hard time making life in the United States. We had to explain to him the real reasons for leaving. " He wanted us to bring him back to Honduras. Until the day I said to her, "Wait, sit down, we need to talk . We can't go back. If we come back, I will have to give you up to a gang to settle my debt "," says Luis.

Since then, the teenager seems to get used to the idea that he will not be able to go home. " His grades at school have improved, as has his behavior, " says his father. Her 10-year-old daughter, also in school, seems to have adapted more easily to her new country. But the Christmas period is difficult to live. " I assure you that we would like to be in Honduras as a family, at the moment. Christmas here is very different from Christmas in Honduras. So we have our Christmas tree, and all that, but ... it's not the same, ”says Luis.

* For security reasons, the first name has been changed