Living with Threats and Trauma: Mateo's Story

Mateo is a budding artist, avid soccer player, and animal lover who once nursed a bird back to health. Mateo grew up in El Salvador with his mother, stepfather, and three brothers. When he was ten years old, Mateo’s mother withdrew him from school because gangs extorted and recruited schoolchildren in their neighborhood. Instead, Mateo had to work five days a week loading cement blocks onto construction trucks five days a week, from early morning to evening.

As part of a “campaign of terror,” gang members threatened one of Mateo’s older brothers for publicly evangelizing Christianity; the family regularly attended a Christian church in their hometown. Gang members abducted and killed two of Mateo’s in 2016 and 2019. Several months before the gang members killed Mateo’s second brother, a group of men came to their family’s house looking for him. When they did not find his brother, they attacked and beat Mateo. Local authorities ignored the family’s police report. After the police report, unknown men came to the family’s house and said if Mateo and his family did not leave, they would kill them all.

In July 2019, Mateo and his family fled the threats to their lives in hopes of finding safety and starting a new life in the United States. After arriving at the border, they were initially detained and then sent to Matamoros under the Remain in Mexico policy. While there, a gang threatened to steal children in the encampment. Mateo’s family struggled to find food, water, and clothes. Mateo and his younger brother fell ill after bathing in a river, sending his brother to the hospital and leaving Mateo with stomach problems.

Despite their situation, Mateo and his family attended their immigration hearing in the United States, appearing before an immigration judge via video stream without counsel. Mateo’s mother did not understand the interpreter and the immigration judge never asked Mateo a single question. Mateo said that he felt nervous and afraid to discuss his experiences in such an open setting. The judge denied Mateo’s and his family’s asylum petitions in January 2020 and they were sent back to Mexico. Mateo was very sad; he didn’t want to be in Mexico and didn’t want to be in the encampment, but he knew that they couldn’t return to El Salvador either.

Concerned for her children’s safety, Mateo’s mother decided to separate from them. Mateo and his brother crossed the border without her and were placed in government custody while their mother remained in Mexico. Shortly after, the boys were released to their aunt so they could continue seeking legal protection.

Mateo cried whenever he discussed these traumatic events and he has persistent fears of returning to danger in Mexico or El Salvador. He had nightmares about being abducted like his older brothers. According to a licensed clinical social worker, Mateo has been “profoundly impacted by the series of traumatic events where he had no control,” and he suffers from PTSD. Mateo also missed his mom a lot; their separation at the border was his first time being separated from her. He spoke with his mom nearly every day, hoping they would be reunited one day.

Child’s name has been changed to protect his privacy.