My name is Yolani, and I’m accompanied by my daughter, Yovely. We are from Honduras and have been subject to MPP, a program imposed by a heartless government. I left my country, Honduras, for being a mother, for being a sister, for being an involuntary witness to the police, and for fearing the Honduran government.
People who dedicate themselves to crime and illicit activities harassed my family. They are those to whom we refuse extortion demands and other demands. They first tried to take one of my daughters by force to use her in their criminal activities, drug dealing, and trafficking. Thanks to our neighbor, they weren’t able to take her. My husband tried to report them, but the police at the local station rejected the accusation. When the aggressors realized my husband’s intention to report them, another group of people beat and threatened him. My husband and my eldest daughter were able to flee the country.
After these events, they kept coming to my home and asking for my daughter and my husband, and I always told them that I didn’t know where they were. One day, when my youngest daughter, my brother, and my mother were home, they came and asked the same question. That was when one of them started to look at my daughter to touch her inappropriately. Upon seeing this, my brother reacted by pushing and punching the aggressor, who then threatened to kill my brother.
Sadly, some days later my brother was found murdered. At the funeral, these people approached me to threaten me , saying not to tell anything to the police about what had happened to my brother. They told me that if we reported them, we’d pay the same price my brother paid.
The police came to my house to investigate my brother’s death. Out of fear, we said we knew nothing.
One day, the people told me that they didn’t want to see the police patrolling our town anymore, since they had key points of operation there for their illicit businesses, and it was risky for them that the police were coming so frequently.
Just around the same time, the police seized one of their stashes and took into their custody the criminals’ drugs and weapons, as well as girls who were going to be trafficked. A friend of my brother, who works for the criminals, notified me about the bust. He told me over the phone: “leave, get lost from Honduras because when the police leave, they’ll come for you and your daughter. They think you reported them to the police.” I stayed in two different cities in Honduras, but they found me there. I was able to get out of the country thanks to one of my aunts.
That’s how I left my country, next facing imminent danger on the journey. But in the midst of iniquity, fear, violence, and corruption, I had no other choice.
I arrived in Sonora. I was detained there with my daughter for two days against our will. My family paid to get us out of detention. We were handed over to U.S. Immigration with the hope of finding a better life, security, respite, and consolation, but were instead subjected to MPP. Fear, pain, uncertainty returned to our hearts.
We arrived in Nogales disoriented and panicked, with no idea what to do or where to go. Despite the assistance we received from some migrant aid groups, many of us lacked shelter, food, healthcare. The kids who weren’t educated were always targets of discrimination.
In these moments is when fear and uncertainty invade our minds, because we don’t know what future awaits us.All we ask is that you be compassionate and good, that you open your hearts. We only want to be a bit as fortunate as you are. We deserve to live better in a country with freedom and security.
All we want is a place where we can simply live.
People who dedicate themselves to crime and illicit activities harassed my family. They are those to whom we refuse extortion demands and other demands. They first tried to take one of my daughters by force to use her in their criminal activities, drug dealing, and trafficking. Thanks to our neighbor, they weren’t able to take her. My husband tried to report them, but the police at the local station rejected the accusation. When the aggressors realized my husband’s intention to report them, another group of people beat and threatened him. My husband and my eldest daughter were able to flee the country.
After these events, they kept coming to my home and asking for my daughter and my husband, and I always told them that I didn’t know where they were. One day, when my youngest daughter, my brother, and my mother were home, they came and asked the same question. That was when one of them started to look at my daughter to touch her inappropriately. Upon seeing this, my brother reacted by pushing and punching the aggressor, who then threatened to kill my brother.
Sadly, some days later my brother was found murdered. At the funeral, these people approached me to threaten me , saying not to tell anything to the police about what had happened to my brother. They told me that if we reported them, we’d pay the same price my brother paid.
The police came to my house to investigate my brother’s death. Out of fear, we said we knew nothing.
One day, the people told me that they didn’t want to see the police patrolling our town anymore, since they had key points of operation there for their illicit businesses, and it was risky for them that the police were coming so frequently.
Just around the same time, the police seized one of their stashes and took into their custody the criminals’ drugs and weapons, as well as girls who were going to be trafficked. A friend of my brother, who works for the criminals, notified me about the bust. He told me over the phone: “leave, get lost from Honduras because when the police leave, they’ll come for you and your daughter. They think you reported them to the police.” I stayed in two different cities in Honduras, but they found me there. I was able to get out of the country thanks to one of my aunts.
That’s how I left my country, next facing imminent danger on the journey. But in the midst of iniquity, fear, violence, and corruption, I had no other choice.
I arrived in Sonora. I was detained there with my daughter for two days against our will. My family paid to get us out of detention. We were handed over to U.S. Immigration with the hope of finding a better life, security, respite, and consolation, but were instead subjected to MPP. Fear, pain, uncertainty returned to our hearts.
We arrived in Nogales disoriented and panicked, with no idea what to do or where to go. Despite the assistance we received from some migrant aid groups, many of us lacked shelter, food, healthcare. The kids who weren’t educated were always targets of discrimination.
In these moments is when fear and uncertainty invade our minds, because we don’t know what future awaits us.All we ask is that you be compassionate and good, that you open your hearts. We only want to be a bit as fortunate as you are. We deserve to live better in a country with freedom and security.
All we want is a place where we can simply live.
