Everyone has hopes and dreams for a better future. We all want to live a happy life, where we are surrounded by our loved ones and can work to make our dreams a reality. This is why the idea of the American Dream appeals to so many people — it sparks a sense of hope and a new beginning for those who have nothing left to lose anymore in their own country. People from all over the world leave their native country to immigrate to the United States. Anything from personal to economic to political reasons drive people to leave their native country and immigrate to the United States. Immigration is and will continue to be a big part of the United States history, since it is what has made the US diverse; however, the sudden increase in unaccompanied …show more content…
immigration authorities” (Ramos). The amount of girls fleeing from Honduras and El Salvador correlates with the profound gang violence that exists in those countries. According to Women's Refugee, “gangs and drug traffickers in Central America are increasingly recruiting girls to smuggle and sell drugs in their home countries, using gang rape as a means of forcing them into compliance. Gangs also use the threat of rape as a tactic to gain money through extortion and kidnapping.” Girls of all ages are sexually harassed, even girls at the young age of 9. Everyone knows that the journey to the United States is dangerous, but girls would rather risk getting raped on their journey to the United States, rather than get raped continuously in their native country. If 40% of the unaccompanied minors are girls, than 60% of the minors are males. The reason for this is also gang violence. While girls are getting sexually harassed, boys are always getting recruited to …show more content…
They are the major gangs, or “Maras”, that create havoc and civil unrest in these countries. According to Oscar Martinez, “when President George W. Bush signed the TVPRA into law in 2008, there were fifty-two murders per 100,000 people in El Salvador. The number shot up to seventy-one in 2009 before plateauing at sixty-five. Then, thanks in part to a truce between the government and the gangs, it dropped sharply in 2012.” Unfortunately, this truce did not last long and the homicide crimes have increased since then. According to Wolf, “in recent years the group has acquired a reputation for extreme brutality and has ostensibly mutated into a fast-expanding, transnational organized crime network with possible ties to international terrorists.” Although, there are many children who refuse to join gangs, a large amount of the youth decide to join as a way of overcoming “conditions of poverty, family disintegration or separation, neglect, violent domestic environments, unemployment, scarcity of educational and developmental opportunities, and [gaining] family membership in gangs” (Fogelbach). This in part is due to the lack of socioeconomic conditions present in Honduras and El Salvador. It can be seen that the dominance that gangs have is a result of the poverty and lack of opportunities to prosper that are
The American Dream has become a motive for success for both Americans and immigrants. The dream is what draws foreigners to America and what keeps Americans living in America. For some, it means living in a land of opportunities, owning a house with a family, having a stable job, or becoming rich. The American Dream has been, and continues to be a foundation built of both ideals and hopes of Americans and immigrants. The American Dream can be defined by breaking the ideal of class distinction. The ability to go beyond what is expected of your class level, means achieving the American Dream. When Mexican immigrants first arrive in America, they belong to the lower class, only because of their rough start in Mexico. Although they have started out rough, the families from Mexico are on their way to achieve their American Dream. They are on the path to breaking free of the lower class and becoming part of middle-class. Their possibility of an increase quality of life is higher than in Mexico. The drive for an enhanced life is a main part in the drive for the American Dream.
Introduction The exponential growth of gangs in the Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) has led to an epidemic of violence across the region. The two largest and most formidable gangs in the Northern Triangle, the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) and the Barrio 18, wage battles against one another to control territory and defend against incursions. In 2011, Honduras led the world in homicides, with 91.6 per 100,000 people; rates were also alarmingly high in El Salvador and Guatemala, at 69.1 and 38.5 per 100,000 people, respectively. In El Salvador, a country with a population of only 6.2 million people, 4,354 were the victims of homicide in 2011 alone, with the Catholic Church estimating that more than 1,300 of these deaths were the direct result of gang violence. To counteract the growth of the gang phenomenon, during the 2000s the Northern Triangle countries favored a mano dura (iron fist) approach to dealing with the increasing belligerence of gangs.
Individuals generally join a gang as young adults but, are sometimes recruited as early on as elementary school. Society generally sees gangs as dangerous groups to stay away from, but for a young person on the street, a gang offers a sense of family. Gangs present the benefit of protection and being part of a pack. When Latin Americans came to the United States as illegal immigrants they had very few resources and were essentially homeless. A simple solution was to join a gang. Mara Salvatrucha 13 profited from this scenario, exponentially growing in strength and size (Illegal Immigrant Gangs Commit Most U.S. Crime, 2009). An initial reason for the formation of Mara Salvatrucha 13 was for the immigrant’s protection from other gangs, but eventually ended up greatly surpassing their competition in both size and strength (2009).
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” That statement holds strong for immigrants in America. Equal access to opportunities allows immigrants to achieve the American dream. Their success correlates with America’s success because of the contributions immigrants provide to America. Unfortunately, the current immigration policy in America denies many immigrants the American dream.
Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is a well-known transnational criminal organization (TCO) originating from El Salvador. They are specifically targeted for its involvement in transnational criminal activities including drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and many more. It is certain that there are more transnational gangs other than MS-13, but the reality of these gangs impact society, and their neighborhoods, more than one can imagine. There are underlying realities “that make it difficult to generalize [the gangs].” The one of many underlying realities is that each neighborhood level gang group of transnational gangs, particularly MS-13, has a “great deal of autonomy in the relationship it maintains with other organizations.” The second reality factor is that gangs, especially MS-13 in El Salvador are in a state of turmoil. The third reality factor is that the gangs in Central America differ from each other in significant ways. Although most gangs are involved in human smuggling and drug retail, MS-13 has a solidified relationship with “transportista networks and are reaching out to Mexican TCOs.” These realities can be analyzed with Taussig’s notions and theoretical framework of space of death.
Since the 19th century, America became a place where millions of people aspire to immigrate intensively. In order to pursuit a better life, freedom, and equality, people have to leave their hometowns and family, deal with uncertainty. Why were so many people willing to leave their family and go to the United States for pursuing their American Dreams? The most important reason that people chose to immigrate to America was they believed that they had opportunities to earn a better life. No matter how hard they tried, their lives are barely improved. Therefore, people were dissatisfied and despaired with their own countries since their efforts did not pay off. However, reality was cruelly destroying the path to the dream, additionally; people
There is no denying that immigration will always be a factor in the development of the United States. Whether it is due to religious beliefs, economic problems or even war in their native country, emigrants will always come to America with hopes of starting a new life in the “Land of the Free”. Fortunately, the people who do choose to legally migrate to America are generally motivated for success and well-educated. Even the immigrants who are not well educated are motivated to succeed, work hard and take jobs in areas where labor forces are low or jobs that a native-born American may not even consider, effectively making them a contributing member of society.
For many Mexican immigrants, crossing the border into the land of freedom and the American dream is no easy task. Some immigrants come over illegally by means of hiding in cars to cross borders, using visitor visas to stay longer, marrying to become citizens, and having babies as ‘anchors’ to grant automatic citizenship. Other immigrants gain green cards and work visas and work their way into becoming US citizens legally and subsequently gaining citizenship through paperwork for their families back home. After escaping harsh living and working conditions in Mexico, immigrants come to America prepared to gain education, opportunity, and work. This American dream unfortunately does not come to pass for most.
The "American dream" is different for every person. To some it means financial success, to others it means freedom of expression, while others dream to practice their religion without fear. The "American dream" is a complex concept providing immigrants with the hope of better life. The U.S. government provides the environment and resources for everyone to pursue their dreams. Each year millions of people around the world apply for the Diversity Visa lottery program provided by the U.S. government, however only a few thousand people are lucky enough to come here. America is the place where people are judged by their achievements instead of having references or connections. Even though the American economy is in recession and the achieving of the American Dream is harder, many immigrants still achieve religious, political, financial, and sports dreams here in the U.S.
Life is full of experiences and exploration. In life everyone have something that has changed the way they recognize things. Most things change a person’s perception because of the experience they had in the past. I never imagined that my life would ever change. Being born in a different country and end up in a different place could be very hard and frustrating.
From centuries ago, our society of melting pot coexisted with meanings of the American dream. It still held truth from generations ago, when immigration was a natural cause for immigrants to migrate to the land symbolized as freedom. Upon this, immigrating into the United States was not as complicated as it was today in terms of national immigration policies in place. Such examples concluded on Ellis Island when waves of immigration
I walked around unsteadily all day like a lost baby, far away from its pack. Surrounded by unfamiliar territory and uncomfortable weather, I tried to search for any signs of similarities with my previous country. I roamed around from place to place and moved along with the day, wanting to just get away and go back home. This was my first day in the United States of America.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
With an average of one murder per hour, El Salvador, a relatively small country of about six million people, is on its way of becoming the country with highest homicide rate in the world. The violence that has become a Salvadoran social norm derives from many different factors, with the main factor being the high rate of gangs. With over 60,000 gang members actively involved in gangs, the nation has been taken under a sort of violence and mass death only caused by wars (Vice News, ‘Gangs of El Salvador’). Yet, I argue that this war does not continue on because of the high position gangs hold in Salvadoran society today, but is found in its impoverished youth. It is in the impoverished youth that violence is found, not because they partake in
The American Dream can obliterate any prospect of satisfaction and does not show its own unfeasibility. The American dream is combine and intensely implanted in every structure of American life. During the previous years, a very significant number of immigrants had crossed the frontier of the United States of America to hunt the most useful thing in life, the dream, which every American human being thinks about the American dream. Many of those immigrants sacrificed their employments, their associations and connections, their educational levels, and their languages at their homelands to start their new life in America and prosper in reaching their dream.