While the caravan of asylum seekers from Central America may have captured the nation's the attention, the reason these refugees are seeking asylum is a human one.
Anna arrived in San Diego just before the latest groups of asylum seekers from Honduras arrived at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. She was fleeing cartel violence in Mexico. She said she wants to get political asylum because while she was living in Mexico, some people broke into her home and demanded money.
When she didn't have any money to give them, they took her 5-year-old son Daniel outside, beat him and threatened to kill him.
"They took my son and beat him up and left on the street," she told NBC 7 through a translator.
Anna is now staying at the United Methodist Church in Normal Heights, the same church that took in Haitian refugees in 2016. She and her two children are staying there while she is going through the asylum process.
On Friday, the last of the 161 asylum seekers from the caravan crossed into the U.S. to be processed. Once they are processed, they will be taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detention facilities around the country to go through the immigration process or to be returned to their home countries.
The process has not been easy for Anna, but she's hopeful for a new life for her family.
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"I want the political asylum documents so that I can put my two children in school and learn English," Anna said. "I also want to learn English to get a job."
Anna says she's doing everything she can to complete the process to get a better life for her family. But it's an uphill battle. The asylum process can take months if not years to complete.
