Soledad Castillo, she was born in Honduras in 1992, her parents were separated until her mom had gotten a new boyfriend and began to bring him to the house. She exclaimed her mother was afraid of him because he would get drunk and hit her. One night he came home and touched her inappropriately when she had exclaimed to her mother what had happened her mother didn’t believe her. She was sent to go work on her mothers boyfriends family’s farm. She was vivid how couldn’t her mom believe her and after all she went through she had to go work on the man that did those horrendous acts on the farm. She had quickly told her dad she wanted to go to the United states with him. Her father agreed and took her illegally to California many things she had to go through to come to the United states. She stated when she arrived she was amazed how beautiful and fancy it looked. Quickly things started to change. She was getting a good education. She went to a public school but was often doubted because of being Latina. She set a goal to become successful , and now she is an author and is sharing her story. Alone, I do not have the power to make the change for child immigration. What I can do is write this blog to share to others and hopefully a politician can read this and make that change .
Child immigration, is something that happens frequently but not stood up or spoken about frequently. Child immigration is a minor who entered the country illegally and they are sent back to their original country because of not having citizenship. 36 million children have been impacted because of child immigration. I hate that the United States is so unfair and not many people have the same opportunities as others. For example when immigrants don’t have the opportunity to come to the U.S with papers they have to do what’s best for their family and that’s to enter illegally. This leaves me with the thought if there’s many families all with good intentions trying to work for their family and provide the right way why should they have to be illegally entered and be labeled as an “immigrant”. Then they’re here for some time thinking they will have a good life as their kids are now getting education and they are working and have a roof over their head. That sadly sometimes isn’t the case.
There are times when these children are put in court to fight without representation to stay in the U.S.. This is so morally wrong when many are so young that some don’t even know what a lawyer is. The needs are someone who has power that can put their foot down and make the change that is needed. They would know the concerns many people have on this topic. In short, children get taken from their loving homes and no one can assure the families that nothing horrible will happen to their kids. This leaves us with the thought that it may not have been worth it to come to the US with the hope of keeping their kids safe, providing and doing their best just for their kids to go back to the start. It’s sad that they come to the U.S with hope but are sent back to their original country and dont have the same chance of completing their dream they wanted to complete.
I would tell them about the things that are happening to kids as a result of not having their parents or someone to protect them. They will quickly realize the things these kids went through is something no one should ever experience. The additional information I can use to prove that this is a problem is statistics. For example 42% of kids commit suicide due to them getting sent back and not thinking their worth anything. I can show them how many kids have gone through serious stuff by not having their parents due to being sent back to their original country. A good solution to this issue is for the U.S to give citizenship to those who don’t have it and give them the equal opportunity to someone who was born here beside their both humans trying to seek good education and work.
Photo Credits: Lauren Villagran
David Villegas- St. Rita- DMSF Class of 2028