many illegal immigrants make the dangerous trip across the border, willing to risk it all to escape a life of violence back at home. kyung lah follows one woman whose journey started in ghwat ma, she made her way across three countries and traveled more than 3,000 miles. here is her story. reporter: speeding down a highway in northwest washington this is the end of a long bus journey. but you re seeing the beginning of an undocumented life in america. we first met petrona hen her son rudy 1300 miles south in el centro, california. her toddler, so exhausted, sleeps through the interview. as his mother recounts the nightmare of their life in guatemala. translator: i just want us to live and it wasn t going to happen at home. dwa watt ma lan gangs threatened to kidnap and kill rudy unless she paid them. they d already broken both the
the greyhound for the 38-hour trip north. not in murrieta! not in murrieta! usa! reporter: protesters in murrieta say they don t want the influx of undocumented immigrants to come and burden their town, but petrona and all the other undocumented immigrants we ve met are heading to other cities across america, absorbed into the north, the midwest, and east. what if america makes you go back? no. reporter: i will never go back she says. her son would be killed. it s been more than a year since santos has seen his family. rudy doesn t recognize his father, but that doesn t matter right now. i don t know how she did it, he says. so stunned, he s not sure what else to say. they say petrona will show up for her federal hearing but there s little incentive, no monitoring and the very real risk of deportation.