Author: Richard Simon
Bridget Michalko
8/17/2014 Reflection 1
The Rio Grande Valley of south Texas is the center of a large border crisis
about children crossing into the U.S. illegally. More than 1,500 miles from there, is
the state of Virginia, the place that many immigrants try to get to.
In the article Amid the Border Crisis Debate, Many New Immigrants land in the D.C. Area many children that crossed the border illegally and their mothers were interviewed. All of their stories are quite similar. Most of the mothers left their children behind and entered the U.S. illegally, only to send for their children later. Why did they leave their children behind? Most of the parents living in places like Guatemala or El Salvador for better work in the United States so they could support their families. Eventually, many of them sent for their children to come to the U.S. as well. Many parents paid coyotes large amounts of money to smuggle their children across the border.
Reyna Grande’s story from The Distance Between Us was very similar to the stories of the children that were interviewed in the article. They were left behind when their parents went searching for work, then were cared for by their grandparent. Unlike Reyna’s story, many of the children’s grandparents eventually grew ill and they had to move to the U.S. simply to have someone take care of them.
One woman in the article talks about the dangers of troubles back in her homeland. She spoke about her fears for her children when gangs ran around killing people. She spoke of her worries as a mother and how she couldn’t let her children grow up in that kind of place or they would eventually be killed. The fear of violence is often the reason behind current migration.
All of the children spoken to in the article were captured in their attempt to cross into the United States. Many of them only carried the bare minimum. One only carried a backpack and a bible. She prayed and believed that God would take her back to her parents safely. The trip across the border was tiring and hard. Many of the children stated that they were often hungry and would go days without food. When they had trouble keeping up the coyotes would always warn them that if they fell behind, they would be killed. When crossing the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, Border Patrol would usually catch most of the children trying to cross. Many of them believed that they would immediately be taken away, and were surprised when they spent a few weeks in custody, only to be returned to their mothers soon after. The children attend school and continue their education while they wait for a hearing date to be set so they can stay in the country. Unfortunately, there are so many illegal children immigrants that it is harder for the authorities to try and find available courtrooms and judges for their hearings.
Up past Virginia, the Washington D.C. area region is continuing to find more and more children that were caught trying to illegally cross the boarder. The Washington D. C. area is already home to an estimated 165,000 Salvadoran immigrants, and according to the Migration Policy Institute, is the nation’s second largest population after the Los Angeles area’s 275,000. The capital region had about 42,000 Guatemalan immigrants and 30,000 Honduran immigrants.
8/17/2014 Reflection 1
Amid border crisis debate, many new immigrants land in the D C. area.
In the article Amid the Border Crisis Debate, Many New Immigrants land in the D.C. Area many children that crossed the border illegally and their mothers were interviewed. All of their stories are quite similar. Most of the mothers left their children behind and entered the U.S. illegally, only to send for their children later. Why did they leave their children behind? Most of the parents living in places like Guatemala or El Salvador for better work in the United States so they could support their families. Eventually, many of them sent for their children to come to the U.S. as well. Many parents paid coyotes large amounts of money to smuggle their children across the border.
Reyna Grande’s story from The Distance Between Us was very similar to the stories of the children that were interviewed in the article. They were left behind when their parents went searching for work, then were cared for by their grandparent. Unlike Reyna’s story, many of the children’s grandparents eventually grew ill and they had to move to the U.S. simply to have someone take care of them.
One woman in the article talks about the dangers of troubles back in her homeland. She spoke about her fears for her children when gangs ran around killing people. She spoke of her worries as a mother and how she couldn’t let her children grow up in that kind of place or they would eventually be killed. The fear of violence is often the reason behind current migration.
All of the children spoken to in the article were captured in their attempt to cross into the United States. Many of them only carried the bare minimum. One only carried a backpack and a bible. She prayed and believed that God would take her back to her parents safely. The trip across the border was tiring and hard. Many of the children stated that they were often hungry and would go days without food. When they had trouble keeping up the coyotes would always warn them that if they fell behind, they would be killed. When crossing the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, Border Patrol would usually catch most of the children trying to cross. Many of them believed that they would immediately be taken away, and were surprised when they spent a few weeks in custody, only to be returned to their mothers soon after. The children attend school and continue their education while they wait for a hearing date to be set so they can stay in the country. Unfortunately, there are so many illegal children immigrants that it is harder for the authorities to try and find available courtrooms and judges for their hearings.
Up past Virginia, the Washington D.C. area region is continuing to find more and more children that were caught trying to illegally cross the boarder. The Washington D. C. area is already home to an estimated 165,000 Salvadoran immigrants, and according to the Migration Policy Institute, is the nation’s second largest population after the Los Angeles area’s 275,000. The capital region had about 42,000 Guatemalan immigrants and 30,000 Honduran immigrants.
According to the reports from the Department of Health and Human Services’
Administration for Children and Families, there are 2,234 unaccompanied minors
that were released to different sponsors in Virginia between the beginning of
January and early July. This ranks the state fifth after Texas, New York, Florida, and
California.
This border crisis only continues as violence back in homelands pushes more and more parents to send for their children to come to the United States. Although many children are caught, that doesn't stop more from coming. Huge waves of children are being sent across the border to reunite with their families. Many of these minors cross the Rio Grande Valley and are caught, then brought to Virginia and the Washington D.C. area. Therefore, this huge influx of both minor and adult immigrants are creating a debate over what should be done and how they should be dealt with.
When I first read this article, I was confused. I didn't understand why so many children were being sent over to the U.S. if they were only being sent back. I thought it was pointless for the parents sending their children to waste their money on a coyote to smuggle their child across the border when they would most likely get caught and returned. In countries that are poor enough to want to go to the United States, surely the people living there wouldn't have the money to pay smugglers if the risk of it failing was so high. Yet, as I read on, I realized that money wasn't the problem. Almost all of the parents of the children that were interviewed were simply so worried about the violence surround their children, they decided to take the risk anyway. Before reading this article, I never realized just how bad all of the violence in some countries really were. I thought it was just like in the U.S. where only small portions of places had gangs. Only, in some of these countries, those "small places" weren't so small anymore. It surprised me and made me wonder just how desperate some of these people were to get to a safer place.
This border crisis only continues as violence back in homelands pushes more and more parents to send for their children to come to the United States. Although many children are caught, that doesn't stop more from coming. Huge waves of children are being sent across the border to reunite with their families. Many of these minors cross the Rio Grande Valley and are caught, then brought to Virginia and the Washington D.C. area. Therefore, this huge influx of both minor and adult immigrants are creating a debate over what should be done and how they should be dealt with.
When I first read this article, I was confused. I didn't understand why so many children were being sent over to the U.S. if they were only being sent back. I thought it was pointless for the parents sending their children to waste their money on a coyote to smuggle their child across the border when they would most likely get caught and returned. In countries that are poor enough to want to go to the United States, surely the people living there wouldn't have the money to pay smugglers if the risk of it failing was so high. Yet, as I read on, I realized that money wasn't the problem. Almost all of the parents of the children that were interviewed were simply so worried about the violence surround their children, they decided to take the risk anyway. Before reading this article, I never realized just how bad all of the violence in some countries really were. I thought it was just like in the U.S. where only small portions of places had gangs. Only, in some of these countries, those "small places" weren't so small anymore. It surprised me and made me wonder just how desperate some of these people were to get to a safer place.
There are a ton of debates about immigrations! When one of the mothers talked about how she feared gangs, I don't blame her! Also, as one mother talks about how she carried bare minimum, it's sad you have to leave everything behind, but that is the way it is!
ReplyDeleteThis begs one to ask the question... "What won't a parent do for their children?"
ReplyDeleteIs the monetary stability or safety worth the risks?