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Leslie Gonzalez

Susie Huerta

English 1A

15, March 2018

No Refuge or Asylum in America

The summer of 2014 was when the wave of unaccompanied minors began, these children

are migrating from Central America and Mexico to the United States. Unaccompanied minors

are alone and fleeing their war filled countries in hopes of finding sanctuary in the United States,

only to find out they will be denied at the door. The topic of immigration is especially important

today because many families are being destroyed at the hands of Donald Trump. Living in a

mixed-status household--a household where both undocumented immigrants and US born

citizens live-- puts me in a position where my family faces the same risks unaccompanied minors

face. I am a citizen living in a neighborhood next to diverse families, some of which are fearful

of their lives due to Trump's actions on enforcing cruel immigration laws. Valeria Luiselli is an

award winning Mexican author living in the United States, she wrote the book Tell Me How it

Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions clearly examines how the United States has been denying

unaccompanied minors the right to asylum in America. Luiselli believes it is inhumane to send

these children back to their home countries that once hurt these children. The United States have

been ignoring the fact that unaccompanied minors are refugees of a war therefore, they should be

treated as such and given the rights they own.

The United States has been painting immigrant children as “aliens”, creating a negative

story about them with no compassion. The problem with talking about immigration is the

language and prejudice behind the conversation. The Trump administration has referred to
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Mexicans as “criminals, drug dealers, and rapist” (Luiselli 3). The leader of our country has

instilled negative connotative language and twisted the story of refugee children, making it

difficult to feel empathy towards these children. Trump is trying to create an anti-immigrant

country which makes children from Central America hated upon. Unaccompanied minors have

faced the same terror in America as they have faced in their home countries due to the negativity

surrounding immigrant children. Luiselli talks about the horror stories the children have endured

in a way that creates different perspectives and compassion, she clarifies, “They cross Mexico in

the hands of this coyote riding La Bestia. They try not to fall in the hands of rapist, corrupt

policemen, murderous soldiers, and drug gangs who might enslave them” (Luiselli 51).

Unaccompanied minors are fleeing from drug dealers and criminals. They are fearful of rapists

and murders soldiers, the children have encountered many traumatizing things in order to arrive

at the United States. Yet, we are still painting them as villians. These children are experiencing

distress in many emotional and physical forms. The life-and-death effort they make to cross the

borders of the United States shows they are running from a country destroying them. Luiselli is

telling their stories to remind the US that unaccompanied minors are children. Children that are

suffering. Refugee children are neglected the chance to share their stories because they are being

deported back to their countries with no remorse.

Gang violence is evidently causing unaccompanied minors to leave their home countries

and find asylum in America. Refugee children are victims of the gang war in Guatemala,

Honduras, El Salvador and other countries in Central America. The Mara Salvatrucha--MS 13--

and Barrio 18 are the most notorious gangs in Central America and they are embedded in the

same neighborhoods children are growing up in. These wars were started in Los Angeles,

California and then traveled to Central America because undocumented residents were deported
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back in masses. Luiselli explains the severity of the issue and how the children are “fleeing

extreme violence” (Luiselli 12). Unaccompanied minors are being “persecuted” (Luiselli 12) by

the gangs, which means they are being forced to join either the MS 13 or Barrio 18. If they avoid

or deny the coercion of gangs they can suffer “mental and physical abuse” (Luiselli 12) by the

gang members, they could also be killed as well as their families members. The children have no

safe space to run to, or hide. There is essentially no option for the children but to flee their home

countries. Once they flee the country, some gang members actually reside in the US, and the

children might run into them again. The dilemma they deal with is far beyond traumatizing for a

child. Unaccompanied minors must then seek refuge in other countries as far away from the

gangs as possible. Although the United States has set visas for these children it is nearly

impossible to meet the requirements.

Unaccompanied minors have endured so much pain and are fearful of their lives that the

US has created certain visas and permits yet the children are denied these rights. Once the

unaccompanied minor, from Central America, has gotten to the US, their goal is to cross the

border and immediately be detained by border patrol in order to begin their legal procedures in

hopes of being granted asylum. But, if the minor is from Mexico the legal procedures are

different. Luiselli describes the procedure “A border Patrol officer can base the decision to

deport a Mexican child on any evidence-- no matter how substantial or insubstantial--” (Luiselli

52). This legal procedure makes the odds of a Mexican child being granted asylum immensely

low. The Border Patrol may have ingrained a prejudice and negative connotation about

immigrant child and find any “insubstantial” evidence to send them back to the war in their

countries. Also, no one is checking their work because there is no legal documentation needed.

This procedure certainly has a double meaning, the first would be the “legal” aspect but the
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second, a much more cruel aspect, would be to stop the flow of refugee children in the United

States. There are simply too many errors that are potentially passing by with no one being held

accountable.

The United States does not want to take responsibility of unaccompanied minors so they

have implemented the priority juvenile docket to deport them back to their home countries as

soon as possible. Under the Obama Administration, the Justice Department began moving

unaccompanied minors into courts as early as possible. The priority dockets are also informally

known as “surge dockets” or “rocket dockets” (New York Times Kirk Semple). Although I am

no immigration lawyer, it is quite apparent these names show that the due process is being

rushed, making it more difficult to find and afford a representative, receive notifications on court

hearings and making it more difficult to build up their cases. Luiselli also believes this is the

government's ways of deporting back as many refugee children as they possibly can, she

proclaims, “In legal terms, it was a kind of backdoor escape route to avoid dealing with the

impending reality suddenly knocking at the country’s front doors” (Luiselli 41). By saying this

she is expressing how the priority juvenile docket is working against the children and purposely

deporting children so that the United States does not have to “deal” with these children. The

United States want to avoid “wasting” time and money on children seeking asylum. America as a

nation has become numb to this behavior.

Americans normalize violence and war in other countries which creates a disconnect with

refugee children and themselves. On the other hand, some may argue that the the wars we are

fighting in our own countries have made us accustomed to the tragic events occurring today.

They might say because of the recurrences of: mass deportations, school shootings, DACA

ending, police brutality, and the Syrian War, the United States citizens have seen it all therefore
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we normalize the war in our own country, making it easier to feel numb about the battles in other

countries. There is also a belief that if the wars in other countries do not affect us directly, there

is no reason to worry or care.

Even though it is true that we have so many national tragic events occuring in this era--

such as DACA being ended, mass deportations, police brutality and school shootings-- it is

“natural” to get used to these events because of their recocurrances, this does not mean we

should idly stand by and allow them to continue. Americans allow this normalization to occur in

their own country, it is no surprise they are disconnected to other countries as well. Each of these

tragic events have human connects behind it, undocumented people and students are being

destroyed, African Americans are being destroyed, and children are being destroyed. These

issues may not affect them directly but their government is allowing these tragic events,

connecting back to the citizens own ethics and morals. The children of this generation are going

to be the ones that create peace in wars but refugee children are being sent back to the war

instead of granted asylum in the US. Luiselli touches on this topic by sharing her stance on it,

“Because being aware of what is happening in our era and choosing to do nothing has become

unacceptable. (...) Because we can all be held accountable if something happens under your

noses and we don't care even look” (Luiselli 30). This is a direct call for action. Luiselli wants to

convey the importance of waking up from the tragedy of dehumanizing refugee children. These

events will not stop if we don't do practice our 1st Amendment and question our government. It

is urgent that we create a discussion so that a reform is created and the normalization ends.

It is time that the United States acknowledges and respects unaccompanied children and

grants them refuge and asylum. Today we see events occuring in our communities and in our

neighborhoods, this not only affects the refugee children's families or undocumented immigrants
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but it affects everyone in the United States. Immigrant residents and undocumented residents

have provided so much for America, only for America to laugh back at them and spit in their

faces. We have bitten the hands that fundamentally feed us. Immigrant residents and children are

not able to work the same way citizens do, they get paid less and are treated degradingly. Trump

has not seen what unaccompanied minors have seen, nor experienced what they have

experienced, and he has most definitely not lived to tell the story that haunts these minors. Their

potential to change our America is there and by not allowing the children--our future leaders--

we are preserving our hateful prejudices and history. This will now affect everyone because

Luiselli has told their stories, now it's time we question our government and create a positive

reform to vouch for refugee children. We must follow the steps presented to us. We must provide

our future leaders a sanctuary for their bodies to heal mentally and physically.

Work Cited

Semple, Kirk. “In Court, Immigrant Children Are Moved to Head of Line.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/nyregion/in-court-

children-lead-line-of-migrants.html.

Luiselli, Valeria, and Lizzie Davis. Tell Me How It Ends: an Essay in Forty Questions. 4th

Estate, 2017.