Blog 10

In the article “The Children are Coming” published by The Nation, author Oscar Martinez describes how children are brutally murdered because they refuse to join gangs ranks, so they flee to the United States.

            Tens of thousands of children flee to the U.S because of gang violence.  The Obama administration tried to change the 2008 TVPRA so that within the last nine months the 52,000 child immigrants that arrived in the U.S could be deported without having to go in front of an immigration judge.  Instead of going for this proposal, the White House asked Congress for $3.7 billion dollars to hire more judges to make the removal process faster and to build up enforcement.  People worry less about the violence that children face while returning home and more on political expedience.  In 2013, The United Nations voted Honduras as the most violent country in the world with 90 murders per 100,000 people.  El Salvador came in fourth and Guatemala fifth.  Based off of El Salvador’s Institute of Legal medicine, 38% between the ages of 15 and 24 are murdered every year.  Gang violence is so widespread that they had to make a change in the law that basically stated that as long as they can prove that they were trying to protect themselves from harm, those accused of murder would be free to go.  The Lawmakers said these changes would provide the public with the tools for self defense.  Gangs are also recruiting younger and younger children dropping from 14 to 12.  Gang recruitment has attributed to the high dropout rate of many schools.  “As the case of David de la O shows, saying no to a gang can be dangerous, and hiding is nearly impossible.”  Many parents hire coyotes to bring their children into the U.S and pay them about $7,500 dollars for each child.  In the U.S, coyotes are more known as ruthless criminals on the level of narcotraffickers.  Based off of evidence, sadly reunification remains very small.  Out of the $3.7 billion, only $295 million will be used to better control the borders of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala and create conditions to diminish the leading causes of mass migration.  No matter what the government decides to do, the mothers and fathers of these children will keep trying to find ways to be with their children again.

            Personally, I think it is wrong that children are constantly murdered by gangs just because they refuse to join.  Also, I believe that they should make changes to the 2008 TVPRA to make it easier for children to be deported.  I don’t get why gangs think it’s okay to take over and try to recruit young children into their ranks.  Gang violence is a serious problem and it should not go unseen.  Why should thousands of children be murdered each year because of gang violence.  That just doesn’t make sense to me.

Blog 9

In this article, titled “A Prisoner in the House” published by New Internationalist, author Samira Shackle talks to women from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh who are forced into arranged marriages with British citizens and are treated like prisoners by their in-laws when they marry.

Arranged Marriage

Jasminder, a woman forced into an arranged marriage by her parents who hoped it would give her a better life, was treated kind of like how Cinderella was, once she got to London.  After two long years of being a slave for her in-laws, she was expected to cook, clean, pick up her sister-in-law’s kids from school, do laundry, and iron.  She had to wash her clothes separately under the tap outside and she was only allowed to eat the scraps that her mother and sister-in-law gave her, which was very little.  She was also beaten on a regular basis and got her hair pulled.  She was only allowed to drink water when she was given permission, and couldn’t spend more than five minutes on the toilet unless she was drinking the tap water.  It wasn’t until she was taken to a clinic against her will to get an abortion where she escaped.  She told the counselor what was happening at home, so the counselor called the police.  Jasminder’s case was not a unique one.  About five hundred women every year face what she faced.  They’re brought to Britain to marry and undergo domestic violence and enslavement.  For the past twenty years, there has been significant approvement in the way Home Office who deals with immigration issues has handled it. In 1999, they passed a "domestic violence concession" that gave women the right to apply for leave to stay in the U.S.  That was only if they could prove they were victims of domestic violence.  They can apply for access to public funds while their immigration claim is processed,  Women who arent on spousal visas are completely vulnerable to exploitation, sexual slavery, and domestic violence.  The sad this is, most of these women don't know their rights.  in 2008 and 2009, 980 applications were sent in to for leave to remain.  540 faced deportation, and the rest of the 440 women could stay.  Every year, about 45,000 foreign spouses come to Britain.  Even though it's only a tiny minority that's effected by this issue, it still should be reported.

I think that women who marry into a family should never be treated this way.  What ever made people think that this was okay?  No one should ever have to go through something like this.  I can't believe it's barely reported to the police.  This kind of domestic violence and slavery should not go unseen.   I wonder why they never wanted to report about this before.  I'm sure they were scared, but why would anyone want to stay and put up with that?