They traveled the excruciating 2,500 mile journey north to the U.S.-Mexico border. Men, women, and children found solidarity and strength in their numbers. The largest caravan of over 8,000 migrant in hopes of seeking asylum for the American Dream.

But their destination turned into a nightmare as thousands of migrants face a crisis at the US-Mexico border. They arrived in Tijuana, a city already a host to thousands of asylum seekers waiting to cross legally into the U.S.

Many now face their new reality as thousands are stuck at the border city near the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the largest border crossing in the world.

Migrants have waited months in the hopes of getting across where overcrowded shelters are their only refuge at Tijuana's border city.

A shelter just about five miles from the border opens its doors to migrant women and children, many who have been here for weeks waiting for their chance to claim asylum.

Since the arrival of the caravan, the shelter has tripled its size. Many Central American women anxiously wait every day.

We will call this woman María to protect her identity. Like many other migrants, her dreams were born of nightmares.

"I came here because I no longer had the option to stay in my home country," María says. "There is no work there and I feared for my life, for my children's life, for my husband's life."

María is fleeing gang violence from the murder capital of the world, San Pedro Sula, Honduras. She fled after gang members murdered her younger sister who was pregnant.

"They killed her. And ever since they killed her, it has been a tragedy for us because she was the youngest," María says. "We never thought that this would happen to her."

Her entire family was threatened they would be next.

“I would be dead today," she says. "I had proof of the threats that came to my house."

Many Central American migrants like "Juana," know that feeling all too well. She fled Honduras after she received death threats. She says she could never go back.

"The gangs took over and threw us out of our own home," Juana says. "They told us to leave the country. They killed my family. We endure so much pain and much more on our journey to come here."

Traveling in the caravan are also grandmothers fleeing to protect their loved ones.

"Life is so difficult because of all the bad people," a grandmother traveling in the caravan says. "They wanted to rape my three-year-old granddaughter."

Like this grandmother, in a blink of an eye, María took everything she could and fled Honduras with her two children.

“The first thing I grabbed was a backpack with diapers. Just that, and I fled," Maria says. "I left everything there. I didn't even have clothes for myself, only the ones I had on."

She was part of the thousands of migrants who made their way north to the border by foot, but her children couldn’t resist the harrowing journey.

“My daughter fell to the floor and told me 'Mommy, my feet hurt so much. I cannot walk anymore,' María says. "I would tell her that we were almost there, but we still had about 18 miles to go."

Even after her three-year-old daughter contracted a fever and her one-year-old son caught pneumonia, they kept walking.

While making the journey, children are the ones who suffer most.

"It is so difficult, especially when you travel with children," Eneida Rodriguez who travels with her toddler says. "My daughter was so sick. She was throwing up and had a fever along the way."

Migrants like Jose are fleeing poverty and dream of getting across.

"I don't want to stay here," Jose says. "My dream is to reach the U.S. and help my family."

For María, this shelter is her only hope for now. While the waiting game for her chance to claim asylum continues in Tijuana.

"I pray to God that I am granted asylum," María says. "If I get sent back, they will kill me."

Many other Central American women say there is no return to their home country.

"I cannot return to El Salvador because both my son's and my life are in danger," a Salvadorian migrant says.

But asylum seekers face a strained immigration system backlogged by the flow of migrant families arriving in recent months.

Immigration Attorney Narciso Cruz describes the current immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Here's the dilemma we are facing," Cruz says. "Unfortunately we have an immigration system that is not really adequately prepared to receive these people. What I mean by that is the processing of large groups of people coming into the port of entry, the government can't handle that right now."

The odds for the caravan migrants to get across, appear slim.

Less than 100 claims are processed every day while an informal take a number system takes place that allows migrants to stay in shelters until their name is called. They arrive every morning to the port of entry when their number is near.

Desperate migrants like "Jesus" are seeking options outside the U.S.

"If people like us who have a family were given the opportunity, we would go to Canada," Jesus says. "We do not need to go to the U.S. What we need is to give our children a better life."

Since the arrival of the caravan, the waiting list for asylum seekers has grown to more than 5,000 names. But migrants like María would not give up hope to get across.

"If I am granted asylum in the U.S., I would have a new life," Maria says. "It would be a new chapter. I would not have to remember everything that I left behind in my country. I could never go back to Honduras, but I do not lose faith that I will be granted asylum."