Why America?
Since America was first created it has always been known as a welcoming place for all, pulling in people from everywhere with the lure of the "American Dream". These people coming from all over bring with them their separate cultures and create the uniquely mixed-mosaic culture America is thought to have. And, this embracement of differences and unification of cultures is a huge pull factor for why people choose to immigrate to America. However, this is not the only reason. The reason most latin and Central American and Mexican people choose America is due to not necessary "pull" factors, but instead "push" factors. Central America and Mexico have many extreme problems that make it nearly impossible for normal civilians to reside safely and comfortably; thus creating a need for them to migrate. Therefore, most of America's Central American and Mexican immigrants choose America due to violence, corruption, and poverty in their own countries pushing them to leave.Violence in Central America and Mexico is an absolute epidemic that has overtaken their countries and cannot be shut down by the government. The drug cartels in these places have an extreme mass of power, and are seen as the ruling force over the government. For example, cartels enforce informal curfews, create and demand taxes, and forcibly recruit young citizens. They are easily able to get away with all of this because of the impunity given to them by the government due to government corruption. Therefore, they will kill, hurt, threaten, and extort without a second thought. This trigger-ready thinking of the cartels has created monumental repercussions for the civilians. In 2017, 35 bus drivers, passengers, and fare collectors were killed while just doing their jobs because they rode busses into gang-controlled neighborhoods, and the ones that were not shot were extorted for 19$ million. Gangs are also a huge problem in central america with the two ruling ones: MS-13 and Barrio 18 constantly fighting due to turf wars and hatred of their rivals. Just in 2017, 296,000 people were displaced from their homes because of warring over land between MS-13 and Barrio 18. Gang and cartel related violence has created such a problem that El Salvador is the murder capital of the world with a higher homicide rate than even all other countries in armed conflict, with the exception of Syria. El Salvador's murder rate is 60 murders per 100,000 people in 2017, and while Honduras's is slightly lowered it is still incomprehensibly high with 42.8 people out of 100,000 being murdered in 2017 and 99% of all these murders in Honduras went unsolved in 2014. Thus, violence is a huge push factor to emigrate because these people are not just trying to earn more money, they are simply trying to survive because living in most central american countries is a death sentence due to gang and cartel violence alone.
Poverty is a huge push factor for immigrants to leave Central America and Mexico. In both Guatemala and Honduras 60%, so more than half of the residents live below the poverty line. Unemployment is a huge problem in these countries, and with Trump's new laws on undocumented immigrants it is expected to get even worse. By deporting thousands of immigrants back to their homelands, a job scarcity and a horrible economic situation will undoubtedly worsen or happen, if it has not already. These countries are ill-equipped to deal with the mass migration of thousands of people coming back and do not have enough jobs, land, or stability for it to be successful. Thus, the current residents of these countries know this, so Trump's new laws will most likely cause even more to flee and emigrate.
Corruption in Central America and Mexico has become so bad that residents do not feel safe or protected, and thus have much incentive to try to escape and migrate. The governments in these places turn a blind eye to gang and cartel activity in exchange for financial aid and opportunity, and political support of the gangs. And both parties easily get away with this due to the fact criminals are given impunity for all crimes and indictments for government corruption is extremely rare. Because of this, any effort at criminal justice is futile and nearly impossible. A perfect example of this corruption is in El Salvador and Honduras where prosecutors have found multiple money trails between MS-13 and high-ranking government officials. Therefore, due to the government corruption allowing gangs and cartels to pursue whatever violence they would like freely, most of Central America has turned into anarchies, leaving civilians feelings incredibly unsafe and wanting to leave.
While the "push" factors are enough to get people to leave their countries, the "pull" factors of America are what leads them to choose the United States. Most immigrants seeking to come to the US are actually not coming for what we believe is the "American Dream". And, instead of coming here in hopes of having a better salary or creating a multimillionaire corporation, they are simply coming here to survive and provide a better life for the second generation, their children. A huge factor of why immigrants choose America is location; the U.S. is just simply close to Central America and Mexico. More important factors include better healthcare, quality and free education, to reunite with their families, more jobs, already existing Mexican immigrant communities, and the ability to seek asylum in the US without deportation during the process. Due to all these pull factors, and America's unique choice in offering immigrants the ability to keep their own cultures and practice their own traditions without persecution, many Central American and Mexican immigrants choose America.
Sources:
USAToday: Thousands of immigrants pass through the southern border. Why are they fleeing their home countries?
Northwestern.edu, Immigrant Connect: Why Do So Many Mexican Immigrants Come to the United States?
PBS: My Journey Home
USNews.com: 5 Facts on migrants coming to the US
Time: There is no way we can turn back
 |
| Honduran Migrant Caravan of over 4,000 |
 |
| Chart depicting amount of Central American immigrants coming to the US |
 |
| Poverty in Latin America |
