Dozens of Central American migrants remain camped at the US border, waiting for a chance to plead for asylum. Many of them were victims of violence carried out by gangs. CGTN's Alasdair Baverstock brings us this report from the border area.

Sitting at the US border in Tijuana, the migrant caravan has come more than thirty-five-hundred kilometers. But it's not an American Dream that has fueled the caravan's progress. It's escape from the violence these migrants faced at home Brutality wrought by gangs that have ravaged Central America. They think of themselves as refugees form the bloodshed. Eleven-year-old Cristofer Hernandez is from El Salvador.

CRISTOFER HERNANDEZ MIGRANT "The gangsters killed my father. I was three years old when they assaulted him and he refused to give them the money that was meant for my baby milk, and they killed him. They shot him in the chest. We have to leave El Salvador because they have threatened to kill us too."

Known as 'maras', the Barrio-Eighteen and the Mara Salvatrucha gangs extort, kidnap and kill with impunity in countries like Honduras and El Salvador. Juan Alejandro Flores Contreras from El Savlador joined the Mara Salvatrucha as an adolescent, and spoke to CGTN about his time in organized crime.

JUAN ALEJANDRO FLORES CONTRERAS MARA SALVATRUCHA GANG MEMBER "I started in the Mara Salvatrucha gang at twelve years old. After joining, I had to go on what they call a mission, to go and kill members of the opposing gang. Life as a gangster in El Salvador is the life of a fugitive. You live hiding yourself from the police, and from the other gang who are trying to kill you."

While Juan admits the Maras have done irreparable damage to his country, he doesn't see an end to the violence.

JUAN ALEJANDRO FLORES CONTRERAS MARA SALVATRUCHA GANG MEMBER "A lot of people in El Salvador end up joining gangs because of the lack of a good example in their lives. A person who they can admire and look up to. But with no one like this in your life, most people end up joining gangs, just like me. At twelve I was a criminal before I knew it."

Juan knows his past and his gang markings make his chances of getting to the United States less likely, but he's determined to try. Because that's where he has family - and hope for a better future.

Alasdair Baverstock - Tijuana, Mexico.