Enrique's Journey Essay

Enrique’s Journey is definitely a heart wrenching book! I have never been so addicted and sadly very into a book like this one. I feel like this book hits so many close to home. A mother in this case Enrique’s mother Lourdes, decides to leave her children behind to go to the U.S. for work in order to provide for them. And both mother and child consequently feel the devastation of being separated. This is like so many other parents whom come to a new country to give their children a better life than how they had and to put them through school. The book very much saddened me when Enrique had to live in different homes, then began to use drugs, and ultimately had to sacrifice leaving his girlfriend, Maria Isabel, and his unborn child to find

his mother. This book gave me the perspective of a real family and situation that many immigrants face.

One event that very much made me furious and sad was when Lourdes begins to struggle through her pregnancy here in the U.S. and then with her relationship with her boyfriend, Santos. It disappoints me how Santos, not very mature, does not take her to a hospital when she goes into labor, but instead goes to the bar all night. To make matters worse, Santos also punches her in the chest because he is jealous of her friendship with one of her male coworkers and later spends the money on a drinking binge and on a fifteen year old girl when he goes to Honduras. Although a very sad book, it was a book with a story and a purpose to inform others or the sacrifices and dangers many go through. Overall, Enrique’s Journey is an amazing book that challenges the views of illegal

immigration.
The book Enrique’s Journey enriched what I have known about illegal immigration.

My mother came to this country illegally and she has mentioned how difficult, frightening, and mostly saddening it was to leave her parents and family behind to have a better future. A lot of my family has come to this country illegally and for that reason I feel and believe that I take a huge stand for those people who come illegally for a better future. This book first off helped me paint the picture of a young boy making his way to this country in my head. When I think about people making their way into this country I think of grown adults and not necessarily children as young as seven years old. But because this book is about a young boy, in his teens, with his own family on its way; wanting to defeat the cycle of abandonment, saddened me greatly and opened my mind into realizing that anyone at any age risks their life. Also, the 7 times Enrique attempted and all the beatings, and robberies, as well as humiliation he had to go through to finally make it on his 8th try had me on my toes. This is also something that many people go through and they never give up in order to make it here. Migration from the south and many Central American countries is harsh. It is not just a walk across a river and sneaking past a wall; but a mission to avoid being robbed, raped, killed to eventually make it to the boarder and hope to make it through without being deported back to your starting

point.
To control illegal immigration, I believe that the United States should team up to help other countries where we see the most migrants coming from. Just as Sonia Nazario suggested, we need to stop spending billions of dollars every year on security, a bigger wall, and more border patrol; and invest in programs that help children who are going onto the wrong path in life and those children who are living in cities that are being withheld by cartel and gang affiliations. First, we need to realize the reasons for which immigrants are coming to the United States. People are coming because they need to provide for their children with food and therefore come to have an opportunity at a job for money and be able to send money back. People also come to escape violence and constant harassment from cartels as well as corrupt police. Most immigrants come because they need help and they ultimately do not want to leave there hometown, children, family, and country; but they sacrifice in order to survive. If you put yourself in the shoes of illegal immigrants, if you had enriching programs for your children, less violence, and an opportunity for work to support your family, would you stay or go? I believe most would decide to stay. Therefore, if the United States interferes and helps countries such as Mexico to establish more programs for children, needy families, and more security; we would have an outflow of immigrants. This is the only way I think will help the people in other countries and be an advantage to the U.S. pocketbook. With current security and a wall that stretches for miles and miles, we still cannot stop those who need help from coming in illegally.