Nine months pregnant, 24-year-old Sandra Alexandre crossed rivers and climbed mountains, traveling through some of the most dangerous countries in the world.
She had one goal: to make it to the U.S.
"It's too difficult, I won't make it," Alexandre recalled telling her fiancé and travel companion, Volcy Dieumercy, somewhere between Colombia and Panama. "Volcy said, 'yes, yes you can make it, little by little, but you are going to make it. Be brave.'"
She did make it. But Dieumercy did not — at least not yet. Because of her pregnancy, Alexandre was allowed into the country before Dieumercy, bypassing long wait times at the ports of entry. Within hours, the U.S. announced it wastightening immigration restrictions on Haitians for the first time since the devastating 2010 earthquake.