Kelvin Arita has made the long, overland journey from Honduras to the United States twice in recent years, and twice has been sent home by U.S. authorities.

On both trips he saw more horrors than he cares to remember: Young kids maimed by trains they had hoped would take them through Mexico. Resentful Mexican laborers pelting Honduran girls with stones. Lonely nights walking through the desert, knowing that robbers could pop up at any time.

Even so, the 25-year-old farmer says he would risk the journey again without much hesitation.

"The gangs here threaten us," Arita says by phone from the pueblo where he lives, near the town of San Pedro Sula in northwest Honduras. "They come and tell us that