Honduran kids flee terror at home, hope for opportunity in U.S.

Unaccompanied minors ride atop the wagon of a freight train, known as La Bestia (The Beast) in Ixtepec, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca June 18, 2014. REUTERS/Jose de Jesus Cortes

IXTEPEC Mexico (Reuters) - Driven from home by threats of gang violence and extortion and drawn to the U.S. by hopes of education and opportunity, Carlos, a 15-year-old from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is stuck in southern Mexico, living in a shelter and trying to figure out how to get to California.

He says he has an uncle there, who told him that in America he can go to school and find a job. He says that back in Honduras there's a local gang that wants to kill him. He's thinking of climbing on board "La Bestia", or "The Beast", one of the freight trains that carry thousands of illegal immigrants north through Mexico.