Eduardo fled Venezuela to avoid arrest following his refusal to fire on demonstrators. Like many of his compatriots, he and his family reached the U.S. border after passing through the Darien Gap, a notorious 66-mile stretch of roadless jungle connecting Colombia and Panama. “It was hell,” he says. “A lot of people die in the jungle from drowning, disease, attacks.” He recalls seeing a Haitian boy drown in a river after falling from his father’s shoulders.

Wow.