In both the movie, La Misma Luna, and the newspaper series, Enrique’s Journey, there is a demonstration of abuse of power. Judicial policemen, immigration officers, and bandits all take part in hurting migrants in various ways. If a migrant is lucky enough to make it across the borders, then they will most certainly have physical and emotional scars. They also have their own story of survival to tell. One of the main messages sent relating to this topic is immigration officers, judicial policemen, and bandits abuse their authority by beating, robbing, and raping vulnerable immigrants in fragile situations. In the movie, La Misma Luna, immigration officers stormed a tomato picking workshop and asked everyone for their papers. They showed no warrant for being there, but assumed that all were illegal immigrants. When some of the workers saw what was happening, they ran and yelled a warning to everyone. The police saw that some were getting away so they used forceful action to keep who they could there. They grabbed people by the neck or by the shirt or whatever they could get a hold of; then they would throw them to the ground and brutally beat them with their police batons. In the police training handbook it describes the use of less than lethal force by saying, “The application of any less than lethal force or device should be managed and monitored in the same way as if that force could cause serious injury or death.” (http://www.justice.gov/archive/crs/pubs/pdexcess.pdf). In the situation presented in the movie, La Misma Luna, the police did not manage or monitor their use of lethal weapons carefully because they beat random people until they couldn’t move. If it had caused serious injury or death, than those particular policemen... ... middle of paper ... ...ape is mostly aimed towards women, it is known that bandits have also had men as victims. “Immigrants tell of nine gangsters who hurled a man off their train, then forced two boys to have sex together or be thrown off too.” (Nazario). While the wrongdoers in this situation are bandits, it is still a part that should be focused on because it demonstrates that women are not the only rape victims. In both the movie, La Misma Luna, and the newspaper series, Enrique’s Journey, migrants are faced with many issues. The most deadly and scarring issues all relate back to bandits, judicial police, and la migra or Mexican immigration officers. The problems that arise are serious to the point of rape, robbing, and beating. It is not easy crossing the border illegally and secretly, but the successful ones have an interesting or even traumatic story about how it worked for them.
Chapter four talked a lot about The Tanaka brothers Farm and how the workers had picked berries once a week or twice a week and experienced several forms of pain days afterward. Workers often felt sick the night before picking due to stress about picking the minimum weight. This chapter also focuses ethnographic attention on how the poor suffer. The poorest of the poor on the farm were the Triqui Strawberry pickers. The Triqui migrant laborers can be understood as an embodiment of violence continuum. Triqui people experienced notable health problems affecting their ability to function in their work or their families. This chapter also talked about how crossing the border from Mexico to the United States involves incredible financial, physical, and emotional suffering for Triqui
As you read you can picture his settings and characters. For the purpose of this book review, the reader will discuss how a migrant community in search of the “American Dream” encounters the “American Nightmare” as described by Tomás Rivera in his novel, “ …And the Earth Did Not Devour Him.”
In this piece, the author, Luke Mogelson, uses a great deal of pathos. In one instance, Mogelson describes when Villanueva crossed the border for the first time when he initially entered
Politics create a perception that illegal immigrants are all horrid human beings and deserve to be deported back to Mexico. There are a number of Mexicans who look to cross the border to the United States because they are in trouble and they must do whatever they can in order to survive. Regardless of this, citizens of the United States immediately ask for the heads of illegal immigrants and jump to conclusions that these people are crude and selfish although they are just trying to support their families. Luis Alberto Urrea tackles this problem regarding Mexicans attempting to cross the border in his book, The Devil 's Highway: A True Story. Urrea retells the story of the Yuma 14, also known as the Welton 26, and their attempt to cross the
Life is like a game of blackjack where we unknowingly are dealt good or bad cards. This unpredictability makes it difficult to gamble decisions. Unfortunately many factors can lead to the bad card where in both the game and life, people are trying to prevent us from achieving the goal. There are two choices to change the outcome however, we may either give up (fold) or we may take a chance (call). The beauty of taking the risk is that if lucky, life gives you that much-needed card. When dealt that winning card, a person is immediately uplifted. That one good hand drives a person to outweigh the pros from the cons and continue to strive for the winning pot or in this case, the goal in life. Enrique in Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” is dealt both the good and bad cards in life, as he undergoes a battle of being pushed internally to continue while also being pulled externally to quit, thus leading him to unearth himself as a worthy human being while on the journey to the U.S; sadly however, his arrival in the U.S refutes what he clearly envisioned for himself.
A leading American historian on race, policing, immigration, and incarceration in the United States, Kelly Lytle Hernandez’s Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol tells the story of how Mexican immigrant workers emerged as the primary target of the United States Border Patrol and how, in the process, the United States Border Patrol shaped the history of race in the United States. Migra! also explores social history, including the dynamics of Anglo-American nativism, the power of national security, and labor-control interests of capitalistic development in the American southwest. In short, Migra! explains
Martinez, Oscar. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994), 232.
A mother sees her children off to school at the school bus stop; however, they would never see each other again. The mother’s trip to the immigration check-in has caused a dramatic change in both her’s and her family’s lives. A story such as this, one where a parent is taken away and deported, is far too common in the U.S.A. An unsympathetic system of deportation has torn many families apart and has thrown away all the effort that immigrants have put into coming to America. Throughout the novel Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, a young boy named Enrique struggles to immigrate to the U.S. and faces many obstacles that infringe on his right to immigrate. The right to immigrate is threatened both in the U.S. and around the world by corrupt dysfunctional
The quote “Enrique cannot see blood, but he senses it everywhere. It runs in gooey dribbles down his face and out his ears and nose. It tastes bitter in his mouth….The sun is high and hot. Enriques left eyelid won't open. His battered knees don't want to bend” is a great example of how the author gets our attention by appealing to our emotions (Nazario 61). In Sonia Nazarios book “Enrique's Journey,” the author does a great job of using all three of the Aristotelian appeals. The one that stands out the most is pathos, the appeal to emotion. In this novel, the author uses pathos to better the story; and try to change the minds of Americans about immigration by using many different techniques such as
America is known as the land of the free. People from other countries want to obtain this human right; they immigrate from far and wide to reap the benefits and be able to send money home to support their families. The struggles and hardships they endure to find this freedom is often forgotten about when it comes down to reach their goals. This is shown in the book Enrique’s Journey, written by a Los Angles Times reporter, Sonia Nazario who explores the struggles one Honduras boy finds himself faced with on the journey to find his mother. Due to poverty many families overlook the complications of illegally crossing the border into the United States and suffer the repercussions. The repercussions are the dangers surrounding the illegal nature
Sonia Nizario's novel Enrique’s Journey Shares experiences of immigrants from Mexico (mainly younger kids) creating a journey to the United states, where freedom lives. The main idea of the story is about a little boy named Enrique who is planning on leaving everything behind to reunite with his mother who left him. Her audience appears to be everyone to show them the suffrage these immigrants had basically gone through in order to find freedom. This proves to us these human beings are willing to go through anything to be like the average American. Nazario backs up all her information she provides us with, by providing us with facts. She states “I lived with the near-constant danger of being beaten, robbed, or raped” Therefore she literally went through what the immigrants went through themselves.
If where you live, there were gangs openly working with no police or government stopping them, wouldn’t you flee, too? Many children come to the United States, unaccompanied, to find their parents, get an education, and flee from violence. Enrique’s Journey is about a young boy’s journey to the United States from Honduras to find his mother. Additionally, on this dangerous journey to get across the border, he rides on top of trains and hitchhikes his way to the border. Nazario’s argument about illegal immigration involving children is the United States should help Central American countries get rid of gangs and gang violence. In the novel, Enrique's Journey, Nazario introduces the topics of gangs and gang violence, humanitarian aid to Central American countries, and unaccompanied minors crossing the United States border. Furthermore, Nazario states her opinion on illegal immigration, in Enrique’s Journey, explaining her view of giving humanitarian aid to countries, and other sources that support
Medina states, “Gang rule is absolute and young people are extremely vulnerable to forced recruitment into the gangs. Adolescents are continually intimidated and subjected to violence, pressurised into joining the gangs or working for them as drug pushers or in other roles” (Medina). This fear dynamic is used in order to promote corruption within the system of migration. The migrants that decide to escape are forced to encounter constant dangers while migrating. Medina states, “Fear of deportation is largely behind the failure to report crimes; in order to get their destination, most migrants will continue on their journey as soon as possible, leaving the experiences behind them, shrouded in silence” (Medina). This silence thrives on the system of corruption which implicates Mexico’s passivity to protect migrants from violence. Overall, this represents enduring the consequences the migrants face and the perseverance to
Illegal immigration has been an issue in this country since its founding. However, in recent years, more and more people are deciding that the conditions in their native countries are too dangerous and impossible to overcome, so they decide to take on the journey to try and enter the United States, “the land of opportunity”, without the proper documentation. In the novel Enrique’s Journey, by Sonia Nazario, we see first hand the expedition many of these people take in order to fulfill their dreams of helping the families they leave behind. Many of these people, like Lourdes and Enrique, come thinking that the “American Dream” will be easily obtained through hard work. Unfortunately, times have changed, and this promise of riches is no longer the norm. Those undocumented immigrants that are lucky enough to make it to the United States are faced with a harsh hit of reality when they realize that the perception they had build of America, with an abundance of jobs, is actually flooded by poverty and an unsteady job market.
Both La Ciudad (1998) and El Norte (1983) show the lives of immigrants in the United States and how they face poverty and destitution. While La Ciudad shows the perspective of various different immigrants already in the United States through vignettes, El Norte follows a brother and sister on their journey to the United States and shows what their life is like once they arrive. Both films, however, have common themes of poverty and destitution for immigrants. For instance, both films show the disappointing reality they face once they actually make it o the US. In addition, both films explore how immigrants are pressured to only looking out for themselves and how they stand up to that pressure.