In Central America, "Being young is a crime.” At least that’s what I hear all the time when talking to teenagers.

Adolescents are vulnerable victims in the Northern Triangle — Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador — where violence has torn communities apart and forced residents out, like those currently traveling in large, determined groups toward the United States. The most recent “migrant caravan" is made up of thousands of people. Many traveling north plan to seek asylum in the U.S., where President Donald Trump and his administration have imposed great efforts to keep them out, including the use of tear gas on those who attempted to come through a fence at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, November 25.

I spoke with young people in the caravan on behalf of Teen Vogue in Mexico. They told me that they are joining the caravan because back home, young people are recruited against their will by gangs from a very early age. Sometimes they are forced, sometimes they are easily convinced because they feel someone is going to take care of them and protect them by making them part of the group. By the time they are 15, the jobs they are forced to take on become more violent. Teenage girls are wanted as partners, sometimes against their will. Many are the children of migrants whose parents were forced to emigrate into the country where these young people live because of poverty and similar violence, thinking that they could give a better way to their children.

Those I met traveling in the caravan are young people who want to study. They want to be able to walk home from school safely.

They say migration is the only option. The caravan is full of young people, many traveling alone, many in small groups, and some traveling with their parents or relatives. In Mexico, I interviewed them and captured portraits. Here are their stories.