(CNN) The agony and desperation are written all over migrants' faces. But what you can't see is how bad their homelands really are.

For decades, US officials have vetted who should get asylum -- a protected status that allows people fleeing persecution to live legally in another country.

And that's a huge blow to the many asylum seekers fleeing Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Snapshots of these countries reveal the nightmares they're trying to escape:

Honduras