An Unaccompanied Minor's Online Detective Work Is Giving Hope to Others

Coming of age inside America's immigration nightmare: As a 17-year-old, Carlos fled Honduras with hopes of seeking asylum in the United States. He did so on his own, as an unaccompanied minor, without a parent or guardian looking out for him—and that’s how it’s been for most of his life. When Carlos was four, his father was killed and, soon after, his mother left him by a dumpster, abandoning him to a life on the streets. Carlos grew up homeless in a city where a teenage boy is expected to work with gangs or be killed by them. So last fall, he joined the migrant caravan and made the trek north. But once he reached the US border he was forced to wait for months, and with his 18th birthday fast approaching, he grew anxious at the possibility of not being able to ask for asylum as a minor. Carlos is one of more than 56,000 unaccompanied children and teens US Customs and Border Protection encountered along the border with Mexico since October. We bring you his story of survival and how he turned to Facebook to make a family of his own.

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