Coreas became part of the unprecedented number of 63,676 unaccompanied minors from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala who were apprehended by U.S. immigration enforcement officials after illegally entering the country.

The latest statistics released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection show that 59,692 unaccompanied minors and teenagers were detained in 2016 fiscal year, between October 2015 and September 2016. This represents a 49 percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year.

A study published in September that was conducted by two researchers from The Wilson Center, a D.C.-based think tank , states that “the economic hardships in the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) cannot be easily separated from the issues of crime, violence, and corruption.”

Dave Wilkins knows this to be true. Wilkins, 27, is an Immigrant Justice Corps fellow and staff attorney at Central American Legal Assistance, a nonprofit organization located in New York. “Almost every person I’ve taken has had a family member who was threatened or murdered by gangs — gangs that have taken over these countries,” he said, noting that that he currently has 80 immigration cases involving Central American nationals of all ages.