McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A Honduran family with two girls arrived in December in the dangerous border town of Reynosa, Mexico, fleeing cartel criminal organizations they said wanted to traffic their girls.

But when they arrived, they had nowhere to go.

The faith-based nonprofit organization Practice Mercy Foundation helped the family find a campsite with other migrants along the Rio Grande. They had been dumped near a Mexican migrant shelter but were not allowed in because they had been threatened by the cartel.

They watched the murky waters of the U.S. shore, with no food, little hope and fearing for their safety, especially for their young girls, the organization’s founder and director Alma Ruth, told Border Report.

“They arrived in time to apply for CBP One, but unfortunately, they didn’t get an appointment, and then they’re stuck in Reynosa,” Ruth said.

She has been crossing the border weekly to help them. Her organization is giving them food, toiletries, spiritual support and medical care. They have even helped them to rent a small house, but she says they are scared to leave the house.

“They have two beautiful daughters, which put them in even higher risk, because they can get kidnapped,” Ruth said.

Reynosa is in the northern Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, which the U.S. State Department warns Americans to not travel to. It’s deemed a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” zone because of “a risk of violence in the state from terrorist groups, cartels, gangs and criminal organizations,” the State Department says.

“Heavily armed members of criminal groups often patrol the state, especially along the border region from Reynosa to Nuevo Laredo. They act without fear of punishment in these areas, and local law enforcement has limited capacity to respond to crime,” the State Department warns on its website. There are “gun battles, murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, forced disappearances, extortion, and sexual assault.”

Ruth says the family fled Honduras because criminal organizations there threatened taking their daughters for sexual and human trafficking.

Sofia is 15; Miriam is 10. Their mother, Saraí owned a restaurant near the Honduran Gulf town of Ceiba.

Border Report is not releasing their last names for their safety and has altered their images.

Ruth says her organization is trying to relocate the family to Monterrey, Mexico, where they should be able to secure work permits and support themselves. Ruth is from Monterrey and says although it’s only 135 miles west of Reynosa, she says it’s much safer.

And as long as the current Trump administration has implemented the Remain in Mexico policy, which requires asylum seekers to remain south of the border, and has discontinued the CBP One app for asylum appointments with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at U.S. ports of entry, she feels this is best for them.

“We’re checking on them weekly to make sure they’re alive, that they’re safe, that they are not being kidnapped, and we are trying to figure out what to do,” she said.

Ruth was the guest preacher on Sunday at St. Mark United Methodist Church in McAllen, which took up a special collection for nonprofits helping migrants.

She started Practice Mercy Foundation in 2019 to help vulnerable women and families, including Indigenous asylum seekers who were waiting south of the border during the first Trump administration.

She says the U.S. asylum rules are stricter now and many migrants have given up and left border cities. She says that’s making it increasingly more dangerous for the few migrants, like this family, who are left in Reynosa and who the various criminal organizations want to exploit.

“There’s no migrants to kidnap. So the level of security is more challenging,” she said.

In the meantime, they’re providing art therapy to help the girls, and they’re bringing in a doctoral student to help the family with emotional therapy and educational therapy.

“I’m focusing on this family to keep them safe. I’m deeply concerned for their children. As females, everything is more complicated when you have females to take care of, you know, to avoid sexual trafficking, especially for children. So I think it should be a priority for us as a society, as a nation, to protect lives, especially children’s lives,” Ruth said.

A link to donate to Practice Mercy Foundation can be found here.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.