StMU Research Scholars

Featuring Scholarly Research, Writing, and Media at St. Mary’s University

October 9, 2019

The Consequences to Conquer Freedom: The Perilous Journey of Female Migrants across the U.S. Mexico Border

Winner of the Fall 2019 StMU History Media Award for

Best Article in the Category of “Human Rights”

In 2019, the Trump administration passed a “zero-tolerance” policy that discouraged illegal immigration and strengthened legislation that allows U.S customs to separate children from their parents when they have enough information to prove families have entered the U.S illegally. But in reality, the Trump administration does not understand why more immigrants have been crossing the border, particularly why there has been an increase in women and children immigrating. Based on recent studies by the Migration Policy Institute, there has been an increase of 3.5 million of Central American immigrants since 2000. Many people believe that the increase in Central American immigrants has just been because women are seeking better jobs or economic opportunities to prosper.1

Instead, more than ninety percent of female immigrants have been trying to leave their home countries due to violent and heinous criminal acts occurring there. Many of these women had been living in fear, because people were trying to make them commit criminal acts. Many women were being forced to join a specific gang or sell for a particular cartel. In the worst case scenario, some females had gone missing if they didn’t obey their community gang. In that case, typically when women had gone missing, they had either been sold into prostitution or killed.2

A small fence that separates oppression from opportunity. | Courtesy of Gordon Hyde

These dangers facing women in their home countries are horrific. But, if someone were to ask a women who has attempted to cross the border, they would explain that escaping their country is the least of their dangers. The most dangerous part is the journey itself. Coming to America, especially if they don’t have a male companion, women fear “the coyote” (a person who smuggles Latin Americans in exchange for a high fee), because frequently they abuse women physically or mentally. Sometimes, they will attempt to kill either females or males just to get what they want if you don’t have enough money for their “couta” (the money needed before and after you attempt to cross). In the worst cases, women go missing or get sold to cartels instead of completing the journey into the U.S.3

These coffins symbolize every misfortune that has occurred to people trying to conquer the land of the free. Every year another coffin is placed on the wall, representing the deaths of many who have tried to cross. | Courtesy of Tomas Castelazo

On April 24, 2019, a migrant caravan came to the United States. Many migrants that arrived with the caravan had come from Central America. More than half of the migrant caravan were females, many fleeing their countries because of the endemic violence there. One human rights advocacy group reported that in January 2019, El Salvador and Honduras were two of the most violent countries in the world. This is significant because this statistic portrays that many migrants have no option but to flee their country either because of gang threats against their lives or because they face mass murder from the government.4 A prime example of this is a young women named Chavez, from San Marcos, Guatemala, where she witnessed a few of her colleagues being killed in gang violence, because they had refused to join the gang. She reported that she was also threatened by the same Guatemalan cartel for many years, due to her being a threat to their sales. Chavez was viewed as “threat,” because she talked to the another cartel, which happened to be their enemy. After the death of her colleagues, Chavez finally made a risky decision to come to the United States, no matter what consequences she might face. Women like Chavez mourn, “It breaks my heart, but I have to keep going.”5

In comparison, Carmen was a single mother who lived in Guatemala whose pilgrimage happened for different reasons. Carmen was willing to risk everything for her son to live a better life where she could offer Enrique an education past the sixth grade. Carmen was well aware that she would have to leave her children due to the expenses of crossing the border and possibilities of harm that lay ahead, but still she continued on her journey despite these costs. As she was crossing the border, she was brutally raped and robbed by her smuggler. It was hard for her to move past all the torture, but she had to continue forward for her kids. Once she arrived in the U.S., she noticed that it was harder to make an honest living than people thought. She didn’t earn enough money to attempt bringing her son across the border. Even though some women come to the states to make a better life for themselves and their families, these women still face lots of violence, which makes them second guess their decision in bringing their children with them. They don’t want to their children to go through the same traumatic experience that they did.6

Mothers who reach American soil, but decided to cut their journey short, so that they can go to a detention center as a family. | Courtesy of Barry Bahler

In some cases, women who are expecting a child or are crossing with a child might actually want to get caught by customs as they cross the border. Many women who are crossing with their children tend to rely on others to help provide food and water for their kids on the journey. Because women can’t carry all the belongings necessary for their children to stay hydrated and healthy, they might want to get caught by U.S. customs agents so that they can get these necessities for their children in a center. For many women, even just stepping onto the U.S soil is a miracle. They don’t care if they get stopped, because they know that wherever they end up going is still dramatically better than where they had been living. But, in reality, many women do not understand what could happen to them within the walls of a detention center until they experience it first-hand. For example, one women from El Salvador was eight-and-a-half months pregnant and began to experience contractions. The women was in a detention center near the Rio Grande and she thought that she would be allowed to stay in the United States because she was pregnant, but the officials disagreed. Border agents took her to a hospital nearby, where the doctors gave her a medication that would stop her contractions. Right after her contractions were stopped, they sent her back to Mexico, where she was caught crossing. What pregnant people don’t understand is that they face more dangers than anyone in a detention center, because they don’t have access to regular meals, medical care, and clean water.7

A “safe” house, where people who entered the United States stay and wait for their family to pick them up. | Courtesy of Wiki Commons

On the other hand, some of the women who actually make it to American soil will temporarily live in a “safe house” (a house that contains people who were able to cross the border and these are often run by the coyotes). But the name is misleading. Even those in safe houses are still in danger. For instance, Melvin, a 36-year-old mother of three, lived in a safe house in McAllen, Texas, waiting for her family to gather enough money to get free from the house. She thought she was safe from harm, until one night the smugglers lost patience waiting for her to pay them. The smugglers took matters in their own hands, drugged her with pills and cocaine, and then locked Melvin in a room. Melvin was locked in the room for weeks. The men she paid to bring her safely bringing to the United States had betrayed her, spending weeks raping her. If she ever spoke a word of this, they threatened to beat her and kill her and every single person in her family.8

Some may ask why women come to the United States if they face deadly consequences along the way? Although the journey of coming to the United States can be life threatening, for many women nothing beats the desire to find physical and cultural well-being in the U.S. People not only seek financial security, they also seek freedom — the freedom that will allow them to raise their children without worries of them being force to join a certain gang or cartel. These women are tired of living in fear that one day their child might go missing because of gang violence in their community. Immigrants don’t come to America to “steal jobs;” they come to find safety no matter what the consequences can be to achieve this goal. Their determination and willingness is all these women need to believe that what they are trying to conquer is without a doubt the best move for not only them for their children as well.9

  1. Allison O’Connor, Jeanne Batalova, and Jessica Bolter, “Central American Immigrants in the United States,” Migration Information Source, August 15,2019, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-immigrants-united-states.
  2. Anjali Fleury, “Fleeing To Mexico For Safety: The Perilous Journey For Migrant Women,” United Nations University, 2016, https://unu.edu/publications/articles/fleeing-to-mexico-for-safety-the-perilous-journey-for-migrant-women.html/.
  3. Amanda Erickson, “Why do some families risk crossing the U.S. border? Because if they don’t, they’ll be killed,” The Washington Post, June 20, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ news/worldviews/wp/2018/ 06/20/why-do-some-families-risk-crossing-the-u-s-border-because-if-they-dont-theyll-be-killed/.
  4. Salil Shetty, “Most Dangerous Journey: What Central American Migrants Face When They Try To Cross The Border,” Amnesty International, 2019, https://www.amnestyusa.org/most-dangerous-journey-what-central-american-migrants-face-when-they-try-to-cross-the-border/.
  5. Kevin Sieff and Sarah Konosian, “Three women and their children made it to the border- but their fate still hang in limbo,” The Lily News, December 5, 2018, https://www.thelily.com/three-women-and-their-children-made-it-to-the-border-but-their-fate-still-hangs-in-limbo/.
  6. Sonia Nazario, Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with his Mother (Los Angeles: Random House, 2006), 4-10.
  7. Norman Merchant, “A Heavily Pregnant Migrant Crossed the U.S. Border Experiencing Contractions.American Doctors Stopped her Labor, Then Sent Her Back to Mexico,” TIME, September 7, 2019, https://time.com/5671108/us-pregnant-migrants-labor-mexico/.
  8. Manny Fernandez, “You Have to Pay With Your Body: The Hidden Nightmare of Sexual Violences on the Border,” The New York Times, March 3, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/us/border-rapes-migrant-women.html/.
  9. Allison O’Connor,Jeanne Batalova,and Jessica Bolter “Central American Immigrants in the United States”, Migration Information Source, August 15,2019, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-immigrants-united-states

Tags from the story

Border Patrol

Central America

coyotes

families

immigration

migrants

safety

Recent Comments

Briley Perkins

It is sad to see that people that are trying to enter the U.S. end up being separated from their families. Nowadays, immigrants are looked down upon and are treated badly by those that hold authoritative positions, because people see them as that they don’t belong here. This is a big problem that should be dealt with as soon as possible to eliminate problems.

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20/10/2019

7:12 pm

Jacqueline Mendez

This article is very raw and I am here for it. People don’t understand how hard it is to cross the border as a woman, they don’t understand how hard it is to be a woman in these other countries. I did not know that women where in such danger crossing the border. Not nature danger but for the horrific ways that coyotes treat them.

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20/10/2019

7:12 pm

Rinnu Joy

The article is very well written as it explains all the struggles women face on their way to cross the borders and even after they cross the borders. It made me so sad while reading the stories of different women who suffered a lot. The story of Carmen who faced all kinds of violence for getting a better life at least for her children. The story telling the worst situation of pregnant women was heartbreaking which is like risking two lives, mother’s and the child’s. Congratulations for the great work!

reply

20/10/2019

7:12 pm

Rinnu Joy

The article is very well written as it explains all the struggles women face on their way to cross the borders and even after they cross the borders. It made me so sad while reading the stories of different women who suffered a lot. The story of Carmen who faced all kinds of violence for getting a better life at least for her children. The story telling the worst situation of pregnant women was heartbreaking which is like risking two lives, mother’s and the child’s.

reply

20/10/2019

7:12 pm

Kaleb Werku

I am an immigrant i can tell you first hand how hard it is to leave your life in your home country. These women were trying to escape violence and give their kids a better future at the same time. It is heartbreaking to know that some can not and are forced to live in an environment that is very taxing on a woman.

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20/10/2019

7:12 pm

Andrea Degollado

This article is very well written and does and excellent job in explain the kinds of struggles and threats women face trying to cross the border. It’s extremely sad to read about the struggles people have to go through, such as being separated rom their family, in search for a better future. The story of Carmen is very sad to read, all the violence she had to go through while being pregnant.

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22/10/2019

7:12 pm

Hector Membreno

This article is very straight foward and explains the whole issue very well. It is very hard for anyone to cross the border and is also extremely dangerous and it is even harder and there are even more dangers as a women. This shows how bad these immigrants want to get in the country to get away from the problems in theyre home country and it is just sad that we are trying to send them back to theyre problems.

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23/10/2019

7:12 pm

Vania Gonzalez

This is a nice article it is very informational and it goes into detail about what that journey is like for women which is something that people need to read about because in all reality they do not know what it is like for women in other countries. This is a hard topic to read about as well because many people do not want to know about the hardships these people go through in order to get here because they just want to believe what they think is right and make policy changes so that we stop getting an influx of immigrants. The truth about these topics is important so I’m glad you did the research and maybe helped someone understand the situation better.

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23/10/2019

7:12 pm

Mauro Bustamante

Reading this article and the thing that really is hard to read was the fact that Many women were being forced to join a specific gang or sell for a particular cartel. This article describes all the hardships that these women went though especially the women with children or expecting a child during the journey. Also In the worst cases, women go missing or get sold to cartels instead of completing the journey into the U.S. This article explains the worst of things that these women and people go through living in their country and trying to cross the border because of the lack of safety and the journey to achieve safety is very difficult. This article was very informative and interesting.

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27/10/2019

7:12 pm

Saira Locke

I love how many personal stories of the people who have gone through the journey of crossing the border were included. I just watched a Netflix documentary series titled “Living Undocumented” and this article adds to my knowledge of immigration. It is crazy to me how not many people know the truths and horrors of immigration and I feel as though that should change. This article is great for spreading awareness to how our government actually treats immigrants and how not all immigrants are “rapists and gang members”. Most immigrants are seeking asylum and better lives.

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27/10/2019

7:12 pm

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