Editor's note: Monica's name was changed in the story to protect her identity.

Monica said she did not want to leave her native Bolivia 13 years ago. She was coming to New York with her mother and sister and ran away in the cloak of night before her flight to New York from La Paz.

"I had my friends there. I had everything and I was scared," said the now 26-year-old Sunset Park, Brooklyn, resident.