ROMA, Texas — Moments after hastily disembarking from an inflatable raft and touching US soil for the first time, four teenage girls who crossed the border without their parents, a man traveling with his nephew, and a small family all broke down in tears.

Their cries along the banks of the Rio Grande Thursday night were a mix of joy for having made it to the US, the painful memories of what they had endured to get there, and the fear of what lay ahead.