They climbed onto the boat on Panama’s Caribbean Coast, around 40 people in all, their belongings stuffed in garbage bags and their children clinging tight to them for the arduous trip ahead.

They were not defying the U.S. government by moving toward the border. They were heading back to Venezuela — doing exactly what American officials want them to do — even though it meant facing threats of robbery, kidnapping and a dangerous crossing once again.

“It’s a broken dream,” said Junior Sulbarán, who, like the others, had fled Venezuela the year before, carrying his infant daughter thousands of miles north and through the treacherous jungle pass known as the Darién Gap.

He and his family arrived in Mexico City before President Trump’s second term, and soon heard the administration’s message. “If you are considering entering America illegally, don’t even think about it,” Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, said in a White House video posted in February. “If you come to our country and you break our laws, we will hunt you down.”

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