When Darieli got to the U.S. three years ago, she had to grow up fast. The 19-year-old immigrant lives in Virginia, where she’s going to high school and works a part-time job, while also helping to raise her three younger sisters.
That’s because their mother was deported to Honduras in 2018, after the girls were separated from her by U.S. immigration officials. So if her sisters need advice they can’t talk to their father about, Darieli says they turn to her.
“It’s hard to play a role that doesn’t belong to you,” Darieli said in Spanish through an interpreter. “I’ve learned a lot about life. I’ve had to give advice, when I myself still need advice.”
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