‘The only thing that awaits me is death’: Crossing US border may mean being separated from your children; not crossing can be worse
‘In my country, the only thing that awaits me is death,’ said one woman whose family fled El Salvador
In the last few days, the Trump administration has come under fire for its “zero tolerance” policy at the US-Mexico border.
Under the policy, officials must prosecute as many border-crossers as possible. That means parents caught coming to the United States without authorisation are immediately taken into custody, and their children are sent to detention centres. More than 2,000 children have been sent to these facilities in the last six weeks.
Image of sobbing migrant child at US border breaks hearts around the world
The architects of the new policy argue that the harshness is part of the point – if coming to the United States illegally is painful, they say, people will not come.
But that ignores something important: Many of these families are coming from very violent corners of Central America and are not just travelling to the United States for better jobs or more economic opportunities. Some are literally fleeing for their lives.
One woman, identified only as Carmen, told El País that she knew about US President Donald Trump’s new policy. But, she said, she still planned to cross the border with her three children and her husband.
Trump’s policy “hasn’t changed my mind,” she said. “If my children can stay there, [even if she is deported], I have hope that I will be able to see them again. In my country, the only thing that awaits me is death.”
The face of Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy
A Pew Research Center study found that the number of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala jumped by 25 per cent between 2015 and 2017. During that same stretch, the total United States immigrant population grew just 10 per cent.
In 2016, the last year for which statistics are available, the United States accepted more asylum requests from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala than from any other country besides China.
El Salvador is the most violent country in the world that is not an active war zone. But it might as well be one.
“Exceptionally intense and persistent” violence, as the International Crisis Group puts it, pits rival gangs against one another.
Since the family fled, the retaliation has been brutal: one close relative was hacked to pieces and another was shot to death
The state’s “iron fist” response has only made things worse, with mass detentions and hyper-militarised police who are accused of shooting first and asking questions later.
In 2017, one family of six explained to the United Nations why they fled their hometown. For years, the family ran a small convenience store out of their home in a San Salvador slum.
In 2013, gang members showed up and demanded bribes. At first, the family handed over money and inventory to protect themselves.
(Salvadorans spend US$756 million in extortion fees every year, according to the central bank of El Salvador which estimates that violence costs the country 16 per cent of GDP.)
Trump to end family separations for border migrants after backlash
One day, they could not afford to pay. Days later, 20 gang members showed up at their door, threatening to kill the whole family unless they turned over US$10,000 – about 2.5 times what the average Salvadoran makes in a year. The family left their home the next day.
“Since the family fled, the retaliation has been brutal: one close relative was hacked to pieces and another was shot to death. The family continue to receive threats and they live in constant terror of what could happen next,” said Michelle Centeno of the United Nations.
Just crossing Mexico, there’s … human trafficking, and there’s rapes and all of this. But they’re seeing that they have to immigrate
As the Intercept wrote, children are also vulnerable: “Kids in El Salvador face well-documented threats at the hands of gangs, from extortion to forced recruitment as members or ‘girlfriends’ of members.
“Being a witness to a gang murder, or just being in the wrong part of town or on the wrong bus line, can get you killed. Increasingly, they also face violence from police. Poor youth are rounded up on suspicion of being gang members, hassled, imprisoned, and, in some cases, killed.”
It is worth noting that the United States bears some blame for El Salvador’s problems. Despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, the violent MS-13 gang was actually founded in Los Angeles.
In response, the US deported thousands of El Salvadorans, effectively exporting a ready-made gang to a much smaller country ill-equipped to handle the fallout.
As immigrant outcry grows, 8 US states refuse to send troops to border
As Florida International University professor José Miguel Cruz explained, MS-13’s presence in Central America “has brutally deployed extortion, human smuggling and drug trafficking, terrorising neighbourhoods and helping to turn the so-called Northern Triangle – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – into the world’s deadliest place”.
Honduras is the second-poorest country in Central America, where 61 per cent of the population lives in poverty. It is also one of the most unequal places in the world, with rampant unemployment and widespread economic insecurity.
If we go back home they will kill us
Last year’s disputed election has left government officials without much authority to govern, and that power vacuum has been filled by powerful gangs. To survive, families must pay gangs a “war tax”. Those who will not, or cannot, are often killed.
“With a very fragile government and a very fragile state, the violent situation with the gangs and the military is going to increase also,” Lester Ramirez of Transparency International told NPR.
“Most of the people that I’ve talked to, they understand the risks,” Ramirez said. “Just crossing Mexico, there’s … human trafficking, and there’s rapes and all of this. But they’re seeing that they have to immigrate because they don’t see any opportunity.”
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable in Honduras and El Salvador. Those countries have some of the highest rates of female homicide in the world. Sexual violence is also a huge, often unreported issue.
‘Cover up’ claim after US lawmakers stopped from seeing immigrant children
Guatemala faces many of the same challenges as El Salvador and Honduras, including gang violence and poverty. Things are so bad that many of the migrants captured at the US border and flown back to Guatemala City in handcuffs say they plan to try crossing into the United States again.
NBC News interviewed several of the would-be immigrants. One, Hicer Hernando, 23, told reporters that he fled Guatemala after his father was killed in a machete attack. His family is Catholic; the people who killed his father are Evangelicals. “They were going to kill me too,” Hernando said.
Another returnee, Juan Sebastian Tuil Mejia, said that he had been deported 18 months ago, and was still without a job.
Star Trek’s George Takei: Trump immigration law worse than internment camps
Thousands of refugees have fled the country and travelled 2,000 miles to the United States border in the hopes of earning asylum.
The story of the Berduo family is illustrative. The Berduos’ son Wayner has been a victim of several gang-related violent crimes in Guatemala. The 23-year-old was shot in the eye and the arm.
His father told NPR that drug lords sent assassins to kill his sons in December. Their crime? Taking tourists to visit a waterfall in the northern part of the country. The drug lord allegedly didn’t like having travellers so close to his property.
“If we go back home,” Berduo told NPR, “they will kill us.”
They have been turned away three times.
