Elder Chavez arrived in the United States alone at 14, fleeing Honduras after his parents abandoned him. He received Special Immigrant Juvenile status – a legal protection designed for children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned. Elder built his life here. Earlier this year, a traffic stop sent him to a detention center in Louisiana, where an immigration officer looked at his legal paperwork and said: "Your papers are of no use to me." Elder is now on a path to deportation.
