This heartbreaking story is typical of the stories we hear from immigrants who have fled their homes in Central America and made it to the United States. The family is now safe and living in Iowa.

Trigger Warning: violence, sexual abuse. Names have been changed to protect the family's identity.

Jareth and his 11-year old daughter Noemi lived peacefully in a small city in Honduras. He worked the overnight shift at a bakery and she was a happy child who enjoyed school. They were active in their church and their Christian faith was important to them.

Jareth did everything he could to avoid the extremely violent MS-13 gang that was taking over his town, but gang members were pressuring him to participate in criminal activity, including murder. He tried to avoid them, but they kidnapped him, took him miles outside of town and told him this was his last chance—or they would go look for his daughter. He saw gang members outside her school after that and knew she was not safe. Jareth reported it to the police, but some of the police officers were part of the gang. They would not accept the report and told him to forget about what was happening. The gang members found Jareth again and viciously beat him.

Read the rest of Jareth and Noemi's story.