Why Do Children Become Violent Gangs?

Have you ever walked into Wal-Mart and taken the time to look at the numerous pictures of missing youth that is plastered on the wall? When looking at how long they have been missing, it ranges anywhere from months to years. Looking at their age, both boys and girls, it is hard not to wonder if these kids are being trafficked. Child sex trafficking, also known as human trafficking, is a major issue that is not only plaguing the United States, but the world. Residing in a state where teen sex trafficking is very common, it is imperative that not only adults, but the youth understand what child sex/human trafficking is, what is a sex-trafficker, and the data that reveals the seriousness of child sex

Honduras, a Central American country, has the highest murder rate in the world, due to gangs. Gang members attempt to get children to join their gang to sell drugs. If the child refuses, they have 2 options: join the rival gang for protection, or be killed. Due to this evidence, you can’t blame them for trying to escape this dangerous life. Many of these minors are unaccompanied, and could be killed on their journey. They are simply trying to make a better life, and our government should be aiding them, not sending them back. Our great country was founded by immigrants trying to make a better life, so we should be helping others trying to do the same thing. If a child is fleeing danger in his home country and knocks on our door pleading for refuge, it is clear that we should open that door and do everything in our power to help, instead of turning him away to fend for himself.

The journey from Honduras to America in not only long but physically and mentally torturous. Enrique sets off for America eight times with seven of those time ending in him being deported to Guatemala every time Enrique still has the will to still keep trying. At the beginning of his seventh journey Enrique is mercilessly beaten and robbed by six by six men while riding of the top of a freight train he escapes by jumping off the train. Enrique is lucky to survive the train intact many fair worse than him with instances of limbs being cut off by the wheels of the train or even more violent attacks by gang members targeting the migrants on the trains. For children such as Enrique who are traveling to the north the trains and gangs are not the only obstacles they must the police also represent a threat, many of which will do things like kidnap migrants and hold them for ransom. The journey from Honduras to America seems excessively grueling and almost impossible for someone Enrique’s yet every year thousands of children do. Up through Mexico the people have many different options on the Central American migrants traveling through their country some believe they are nothing but pest while other are more than happy to help, one more thing to add to the complexity of the

The United States and Mexican border number of migrating, unaccompanied Honduran minors has grown more than 10,500 from the start of January through the month of July of year 2017. Immigration of children continues to have a major effect and an affect both on the United States and Mexico. This is only now coming to the surface because people have different ways to access information and know about news that has not happened in your state or city. The six chapter book “Enrique’s Journey” written by author Sonia Nazario in the year 2001 was only a glimpse of child immigration and how each country was dealing with the influx of unaccompanied minors. Furthermore, the book “Enrique’s Journey” focuses on the experience of being a child with an immigrating

So what exactly is the problem? Well according to the US department of health and human services, human trafficking is second largest criminal industry making $12 billion per year off of a staggering 1.2 million child victims, all from the ages 5 to 17. Unlike other criminal industries children can be sold over and over again. The profits from one girl alone can range to as much as 250,000 dollars. This is not just distant problem but LA which hits close to home for me is the second larges trafficking city in the United States. I am going to share with your the one statistic that lead me to write this speech. (CAS Research and Education) fewer than 1% of all children in California are in the foster care system (SCEC 2012 study) and yet they make of 60% to 80% of all commercially sexually exploited children in California. This is as much as 8 out of every 10 kids. That is a problem. Not only that but the average lifespan for a trafficked child decreases to just seven more years. Subjecting these children to a horrible death of disease, drugs, murder, or suicide.

Since October of last year, many children from countries in South and Central America began flooding U.S. borders, hoping to get away from the problems in their own countries and seeking refuge in the United States. New York Times states that, "More than 68,000 children have been caught crossing the United States border alone since October (2013)," (nytimes.com). Illegal immigration was already a problem in the U.S. however it was mostly kept in the dark until these children arrived. From that point on the big debate started with, what should the government do about these kids? Should they be sent home or kept here? That debate sparked the broadening of the entire illegal immigration

Children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are pouring into Mexico as gang violence is on the rise in Central America. Finding little refuge in their own police force, these refugees are forced to cross into Mexico in order to escape gang violence. Women and children also face the risk of being forced into sexual slavery. These migrants are risking exposure to the elements and attack from bandits as they cross through mountains and jungles to reach safety.

It does not surprise me that so many children and women make this trip from Central America to the United States. A reason why I agree that children and women should come to the U.S. is because of their living conditions back home. Their life back in their home forces them to seek a new life elsewhere. The people that come here only come here because the place where they grew up and where their children will grow up is filled with drugs, gangs, violence, and poverty. Adults grew up with barely enough food and water to survive and it is only natural for them to want something better for their children, so that their children do not have to suffer the same fate as they did. The economic conditions do not help with their financial situation either

A great amount of children are sold and inducted by familiar faces of the neighborhood, family members and/or guardians, and friends of the family. According to the Ark of Hope for Children Child Trafficking Statistics, “Traffickers maybe neighbors, friends, returnees, and agricultural operators, owner of a business, diplomats, and even families (2014).” Statistics show that families can’t care for children and sell them because of “unemployment issues, unhappy home situations: abuse, debt, addicts in the family, and large sums of money” (AOHFC 2014). The family members who do sell their children are not aware of the physical and mental abuse that their child may go through while other guardians may not care because of the money intake.

Firstly, a child’s reason for leaving their country should be a factor on how much they are protected by the United States. To elaborate, a child who left home to get away from home because they did not like the rules they had to follow from their parents is a lot different than a child leaving home due to being a refugee. The child who left home due to not agreeing with the household rules should be sent back home safely while the child who is a refugee should stay in the U.S. and ensure safety and protection. Additionally, “while a child may have multiple reasons for leaving his or her country, children from the Northern Triangle consistently cite gang or cartel violence as a

The undocumented children that cross the United States border are formally known as Unaccompanied Alien Children, or UAC’s. To qualify as a UAC, a child must not have any immigrant status at entry, must be under the age of 18 and must have crossed the border without a legal guardian. Most UAC’S are between the ages of 4 and 17, and the majority are native Spanish speakers. 95% of these children come from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which are Central American countries currently facing immense poverty, gang violence and a number of other dangers. These children come here seeking security and a better life; however, these children and often their sponsors that are living in the US do not realize that a green card isn’t just handed to a child who crosses the border. Once detained at the border, children are placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, where they are placed in shelters and screened in order to find the motive for crossing the border. These children are then placed into removal proceedings, and often cannot understand the process and are left unrepresented in a full on lawsuit. As a result, these children are forced back to their countries despite their

No one wants to imagine the horrifying truth of a poor, defenseless child suffering from abuse and overworking; what’s worse is that they believe this is how they live because they are too young to realize they have rights. Those who use children for human trafficking kidnap them from their families, then they make them work for countless hours without rest. In some case children are thought to kill to advance in war. In Asia, kids are working in factories without the proper protection from the chemicals and machinery. Some work in fields to collect poppies which are then made into marijuana, meth, and heroine. These are only a few way kids are being used for labor that they don’t deserve to do. The kids are hardly fed and beaten if they refuse to work; they are kept in isolated places so no one would be able to find them. It’s terrible to think how a child’s life can change for the

As of 2014, for every six runaways, one most likely ran away because they were pressured or coerced into human trafficking. Out of those, sixty-eight percent came from foster homes or social services (“Facts”). Many adults who are qualified for fostering children, do it for money. Still many families do it out of the goodness of their heart, but the number of those who do it just for the money is still overwhelming. When foster parents get a child who looks good, has a good body, or anything like that, it makes it easier for them to make even more money by selling the child’s body. As children get the chance to run away, to get away from the hell they were put into, they take the chance. It is not their fault that they were put through this

The complicated migration pattern between the US, Mexico and Central America, the scandal of thousands of children crammed into various hostels in the American South should represent a turning point. The arrest of more than 50 thousand children crossing the border without an adult company on the border between Mexico and the United States is a shame for the entire region: traveling alone, traveling two thousand kilometers from Central American land, to leave behind a place devastated by violence, poverty and utter desolation.

As many as half a million Central American immigrants illegally travel to the United States each year. The data base, Issues and Controversies about the American immigration policy, states “the appeal that the United States holds for many immigrants, combined with its restrictive immigration policy, has led millions of people to enter the country illegally” (Immigration Policy). Most of these people are women in addition to children. Seventy five percent of child immigrants are searching for their mothers who have already traveled to America to support their family. Furthermore, only about two-thirds of the migrants will be able to make it past the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service; the rest are deported back to their countries. Nevertheless, the perils of the journey are widely known; most child immigrants are raped, robbed, and beaten multiple times. While they are immigrating illegally, the trek of child immigrants from Central America is dangerous due to sexual assault, accidents on the trains, and gang violence.