Illegal Immigrant families: 'We are not criminals'

San Antonio, Texas (CNN) Yanira Lopez thought she and her three children had finally left the worst behind: the fear and uncertainty of a perilous journey from their native Guatemala to the United States border; the harrowing day she lost her children for five hours somewhere in an unknown land.
But when the family reached the US border in Matamoros, Mexico, in February 2015, a sense of hope replaced the confusion and apprehension. The seemingly endless line of people waiting to cross over into Brownsville, Texas, was unlike anything they had seen. When the Lopez family's turn came, Yanira Lopez simply told a US immigration officer: "We came here for your help, to get asylum."

The officer wrote down their information. Lopez said she relaxed for the first time in the long journey. Finally, they had arrived, escaping the crime and violence that made Guatemala one of the dangerous countries in the world.
They were given hamburgers and Hershey chocolates. Lopez imagined a joyous reunion with relatives in the US. A short time later, they boarded a bus.
"We couldn't even imagine where they were taking us," Lopez said

The family reunion was not to be. Not yet, at least. After a night locked in a temporary holding facility, the Lopez family was transported to another unknown detention center where they would languish for two months.
Despite aggressive US government efforts to stem the flow of Central American migrants crossing the border, more and more families are following the footsteps of Lopez and her children.
Lopez arrived one year after the unprecedented 2014 wave of unaccompanied minors and families that crossed the border in what activist called a humanitarian crisis.

The Obama Administration responded to the 2014 crisis by opening two large family detention centers in Texas: The Karnes County and the South Texas Family Residential Center.
The initial goal was to deter new families from coming. Instead, the stream of incoming families is growing. Two years ago, 68,445 family units (people who come in groups of two or more family members) were apprehended at the border. In fiscal year 2016 that total swelled to 77,674, according to the US Border Patrol.

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