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.