Interviewer: Tell me about your life before
Kervin: I am from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I was raised by my single mom along with my sister, the gangs killed my dad before I was born. As I grew older gang violence increased, my mom got tired of always worrying if we would make it back from school or even a simple grocery store trip. If you don’t help the cartels or pay your dues they will kill you. They do not have any remorse. There is an absence of justice, the police are corrupt, they are paid off by drug cartels or street gangs, less than 5% of reported crimes are ever solved. San Pedro Sula was the most dangerous city in the world in 2014.
Kervin: I am from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I was raised by my single mom along with my sister, the gangs killed my dad before I was born. As I grew older gang violence increased, my mom got tired of always worrying if we would make it back from school or even a simple grocery store trip. If you don’t help the cartels or pay your dues they will kill you. They do not have any remorse. There is an absence of justice, the police are corrupt, they are paid off by drug cartels or street gangs, less than 5% of reported crimes are ever solved. San Pedro Sula was the most dangerous city in the world in 2014.
Kervin: My mom decided she had had enough and we would be attempting to migrate to the united states. We would travel on the “Bestia“, the Mexican freight trains traveling through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. This is an extremely dangerous route because sometimes the trains get rambled by a cartel or Mexican immigration, but nothing was a greater risk than staying in Honduras. Additionally, you must board the train while it’s moving at high speeds. There were times in our journey when we were trans board from train to train but the next train would be going too fast to get on that we would need to instead walk 50 miles to a migrate shelter with no water or food and then wait 3 days until the next train. Luckily at these shelters, they are given shelter and some food, but when they were halfway through Mexico they were caught by the Mexican immigration patrol. They got deported back to Honduras. I was too young to really understand what was going on but I remember my mom begging for them to let us go, but no amount of crying would change their minds.
Kervin: Soon after arriving back in Honduras a private elementary school opened at a price poor families could afford. The wealthy always put their kids in the best private schools, there is none that would trust the Honduras school system and allow them to go to a public school. Since 2009 the Honduras government hasn’t steadily paid its teachers leaving 50% off all school days to be cancelled . This leaves kids in the streets vulnerable to gangs and they grow up without the skills to get good jobs. Luckily I excelled at the bilingual school and now study in the united States legally an opportunity usually offered to rich students.
In recent years the Honduras government has cut back cost in helping poor kids go to school and instead have invested in a military program called “guardians of the Homeland” and instead of teaching them what they need to know to start a business or skills they may need, they teach them military propaganda and firearm training.
Interviewer: Anything else you would like to say?
Kervin: "People have to realize that these migrants are willing to risk their own lives, their children, and everything back home at a chance for a better life, they should not be labeled as predators”
The United States congress instead of tackling the root causes of illegal immigration
focuses on deportation and border patrol security.
In recent years the Honduras government has cut back cost in helping poor kids go to school and instead have invested in a military program called “guardians of the Homeland” and instead of teaching them what they need to know to start a business or skills they may need, they teach them military propaganda and firearm training.
Interviewer: Anything else you would like to say?
Kervin: "People have to realize that these migrants are willing to risk their own lives, their children, and everything back home at a chance for a better life, they should not be labeled as predators”
The United States congress instead of tackling the root causes of illegal immigration
focuses on deportation and border patrol security.