The Afghan Hussaini siblings contacted The Associated Press to expose their case after being deported from the U.S., a place they reached crossing the world to find refuge from the Taliban.

As they walked up to the thick metal pillars of the border wall dividing Tijuana and San Diego, the Hussaini siblings carried nothing from their lives in Afghanistan than a hazy fantasy of what awaited them on the other side.

Amir, 21, and his sisters, Suraiya, 26, and Bano, 27, arrived in northern Mexico with an appointment for Jan. 24, four days after U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

That was the day they were supposed to enter the U.S. and make their case, marking what they thought would be an end to the repression by the Taliban after the withdrawal of American troops in 2021, and to their 17,500-mile journey by foot, canoe, bus and plane across the world.

That was all before the door to asylum slammed shut along the U.S. southern border moments after Trump took office.

Trump's victory was based in no small part on support from voters who embraced his hard-line immigration views. Within days, his administration had transformed what it meant to seek refuge in the U.S., casting aside an ethos of helping the persecuted that is nearly as old as the country itself.

Families such as the Hussainis are suffering the cascading consequences of larger political shifts as countries tighten asylum policies and turn away refugees.

In Afghanistan, whose tumultuous history is intertwined with American military and foreign policy, the expulsion carried an added sting because the Hussainis believed they would find safe harbor in the U.S.

Instead, Amir watched his sisters being torn away from him by American border agents under the harsh fluorescent lights of a detention facility. It was the last time he saw them.

Half a year later, the family has been dispersed to different countries as part of the administration's push to send immigrants and refugees to far-flung, unfamiliar and often dangerous places.

One sister is trying to navigate life in the far reaches of South America. The second is marooned in Central America. Amir is back in Afghanistan, plagued by fear in the very country the family fled.

Design by Anika Arora Seth

Illustrations by Panagiotis Mouzakis