The immigration population coming into the United States from Central America is largely made up of adolescents. I will be using P.J. Tobia’s article, “No Country for Lost Kids,” for context of this particular immigration crisis. In this case there are two main sources of push and pull factors which lead to immigrating: fleeing from violence in their country and family reunification. The article describes the violence these children meet, with the dangers they must overcome to even make it to the U.S. border, all with the hopes that they will be taken care of by our government. However, as they are either caught or turn themselves into border control, they realize they will only receive a break from violence at home in exchange for a year-long
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As many drug cartels were expelled from Mexico after the Mexican army battled them in 2006, they relocated to other Central American countries. Children become easy targets under the rule of these cartels, in which they are made to serve as drug mules and assassins. In “No Country for Lost Kids,” P.J. writes about stories he heard from young immigrants about this violence. A young girl of 16 says, “The big people force the children to take their clothes off and also make them sell bad things, and if they don’t do it, they rape them or kill them.” A boy, 11, states from one of his experiences back in Honduras, “They were stripping the kid naked, I ran to tell his mother. Later I went home but I didn’t want to leave the house again because they could do the same thing to me.” The fear of rape in young people is a common factor that drives one from their home. As in Dave Eggers’ novel, “What is the What,” the main character, Achak also leaves his hometown for fear of rape by the Murahaleen invading his village. The molestation of young boys was unheard of in Marial Bai and thus caused a great fear in Achak. Even though this tragedy is common in Central America, it is still
As many drug cartels were expelled from Mexico after the Mexican army battled them in 2006, they relocated to other Central American countries. Children become easy targets under the rule of these cartels, in which they are made to serve as drug mules and assassins. In “No Country for Lost Kids,” P.J. writes about stories he heard from young immigrants about this violence. A young girl of 16 says, “The big people force the children to take their clothes off and also make them sell bad things, and if they don’t do it, they rape them or kill them.” A boy, 11, states from one of his experiences back in Honduras, “They were stripping the kid naked, I ran to tell his mother. Later I went home but I didn’t want to leave the house again because they could do the same thing to me.” The fear of rape in young people is a common factor that drives one from their home. As in Dave Eggers’ novel, “What is the What,” the main character, Achak also leaves his hometown for fear of rape by the Murahaleen invading his village. The molestation of young boys was unheard of in Marial Bai and thus caused a great fear in Achak. Even though this tragedy is common in Central America, it is still