But then they were targeted by a pandilla. A local gang. They wanted a cut of the family’s income. Business owners and private individuals are forced to pay a “tax”, la renta, so the gangs can continue their business and take care of their family – the gang members.

For years, Ana’s family paid la renta, until one day, Ana was involved in a car accident on her way to the store and broke her foot. The family had no insurance, and Ana’s medical costs piled up. The family couldn’t afford to pay the gang anymore. Then it became dangerous.

“They came and demanded the money. My husband told them we had nothing to give. So they started threatening us. Said they were going to cut our throats if we didn’t pay.”

Everywhere Ana and her husband went, a shadow now followed. If they were out riding the motorcycle, someone would pull up beside them. At night, there was a hammering on the door, and they constantly received threat letters.

“I told the police what was going on.”

That just made the gang angrier.

“They said that if I reported them to the police, we would just get hurt sooner. That if they ended up in jail, the rest of the gang would kill my entire family.”

Ana, her husband and their children were terrified and rarely went out. Didn’t dare.

Then one day, Ana became unwell. Her injured foot had still not healed. Her husband went to the city to get medicine.

But when Ana's health deteriorated and she fainted, her eldest daughter, who was just a young teenager at the time, didn’t want to wait any longer. She went outside and walked to the pharmacy.

“He took it out on my oldest daughter.”

It took many hours before they got her home. Battered. Bloody. Dragged by the hair. Her arm broken. Raped. A gang member had gotten hold of her.

For eight days, the girl remained in the hospital.

“She was fine when she slept,” says Ana. “But when she would wake up, she’d start screaming. She was afraid they would come and kill her. She would shout: ‘Help me Mami!”

Ana watched over her daughter, spending her days and nights in the hospital. A few days later, a police officer called Ana. “We have arrested the gang member who did this to your daughter,” they told her.

But the relief quickly passed.

Now they weren’t “just” receiving threats from the gang anymore. They were also receiving threats from the gang member’s family. They threw water on Ana outside the courthouse. Threatened the prosecutor’s colleagues.

“Several people said I should drop the charges and have him released, so we and our family would not be killed.

“I thought: ‘What can I do?’ If he gets out, he’s just going to keep demanding money. Maybe he’ll assault my children again, maybe my youngest daughter this time.”

Ana straightens up. In a steadfast voice, she says:

“I decided I was going to fight for my daughter. That I would tell them everything I knew. I didn’t know what they would ask me [in court], but I decided to say everything.”

The iceboxes

“In the end, the police investigator said it would be best for us if we just left. It was the gang leader himself who was after us.

“So we did.

“My husband, our children, and I.

“My mother stayed behind with some relatives.”

The family hoped to make it to the United States. But the journey was gruelling.  They travelled together with hundreds of others; having to cross rivers and hide from drones.

“We were a big group. Finally, we arrived at a farm. We had to leave our luggage there. The traffickers placed us on some trucks. My children had fevers, so I tried putting some cold cloths on them. My husband fell and landed in the middle of the truck bed, and many others ended up standing on top of him.

“I tried to protect my kids. It felt like we were drowning, we couldn’t breathe.

“Finally, the vehicle stopped. In a deserted place. There were many men there, with huge rifles, wearing navarones [a kind of balaclava that covers the face],” says Ana. Everyone had to get down from the truck, and the men began to read out names, telling us who would go where.

“I saw that these were not federal agents [from the United States] or police. I had a feeling that these were the same people who had treated us badly in El Salvador. I was afraid they were going to kill us.

“Many were abandoned there because the traffickers had not received payment.  They tried to contact their families in the United States. If the family didn’t pay, they were killed.”

The next day, those who travelled on attempted to cross the Rio Grande, which is the border between the United States and Mexico.

“Many of the children fainted. We tried to help them. Their parents were already in the United States and had sent for their children later. The children stayed close to us. We no longer had only our own children to care for, but ten more.” 

After many days on foot, the family finally crossed the border into the United States. A US border patrol guard gave the children juice boxes, and Ana showed the family’s papers. 

They were sent to a detention centre. The unaccompanied children were separated from the others, and children travelling with their parents were sent for medical check-ups.

“My children were freezing cold. Their lips turned blue, and they were shaking. There were a lot of kids there. We tried our best to warm them up.

“They took everything away from us and left us alone in freezing cold rooms, wearing only our underwear.” 

The family was there for ten days before being released. 

“We thought they had let us out so our families could come and get us. But they took us to a bus which drove out to a plane. I read the document they gave us, what it said. That’s when I realised we were going to be deported.” 

Ana falls silent.

“I don’t know what happened to the other children.”