User:AlyssaKayS/Poverty in Mexico

How Gender and Poverty Affects Immigration out of Mexico

Mexico border wall

Women at the border

Many women leave Mexico to find their husbands and families. They hop the border in dangerous ways crossing through the desert and going through customs trying to cross into the United States. Many are forced to become sex workers in order to make enough money to cross the border. Even when they cross the border it is still much harder for Mexican women to find citizenship than Mexican men. People immigrate out of Mexico due to horrible poverty. Not only do women face hardships from others in Mexico but also border control. Over half of women (55%) at the border convey the hardships they faced at the border, they have experienced verbal, physical, and psychological abuse by the border control officers. Ciudad Juárez is a major border town that indigenous women have flocked to due to the rise of factories promising work. Indigenous women are often forced into cities such as this as land goes to men before women which leads to a lack of resources to survive off the land. However, due to the rise in population and economics in this town Cartels have found a place here doing drug trades, this risks human trafficking and femicide for women. No matter where indigenous women go in Mexico they are followed by threats to their lives. Border towns such as Ciudad Juárez promise work for women who suffer from poverty but also promise danger that the Cartel and drugs bring. Many people in Mexico do try to cross the border, they try to cross into the United States because it was proclaimed the holy land where people can be safe and provide a life for their families. People are forced to leave Mexico due to harsh poverty as well as the ever-looming danger the Cartel poses.

Mexicans' changing citizenship

People try to move to U.S. and gain citizenship to find lost family members, get a good job and to leave Mexico, many still get deported.The U.S. actively debates about Mexican immigrants; they worry Mexican immigrants take jobs.U.S. immigration laws hurt these people who were considered by the U.S. unwanted, these people are faced with long and stressful processes of legal migration and when they are able to citizenship is still very difficult to obtain along with the harsh judgements from Americans. Most Mexicans dream about living in the United States forever in order to live safely and have stable income. Many women come with a spousal visa in order to legally live in the US. Some women come to the U.S. to find their husband to heal their broken families as many times families are separated due to lack of funds to take everyone all at once. Many of the women are victims of domestic violence as well as fetishization from men who married them due to the culture of Mexican women being submissive and doting. After a while the families grow until there are third and fourth generation Mexicans in the United States, these generations still face harassment and often times become trapped in cycles of poverty.

The dangers of leaving Mexico due to poverty

Many people are kidnapped and mugged as they are trying to cross the border. In cases where a woman tries to cross the border with a male family member, and they are sent to detention they are separated. This alone is an extremely impactful situation, but many times women are able to leave detention before men and due to lack of education are unable to get a bus back home or fend for themselves, with very little opportunity to contact their husband, brother, or father it makes surviving difficult and strenuous on the mind. Border control knows the people crossing the border by their accents.After 9/11 the borders got even more dangerous, with tensions high in the U.S borders became more closed off which caused border towns, most notably Ciudad Juárez, to become trapped in poverty. The Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service that came after 9/11 caused even more tensions. People get PTSD after crossing the border, as there are many threats such as the journey through the desert, the cartel, and border patrol officers.Many are forced to pass through the desert which means days of extreme heat, danger from nature, lack of food and water, and risk of running into the cartel where they require payments be made to pass. Another danger in crossing the border is the War on Drugs, this war puts people in danger of both the cartel and border patrol. As Drug Lords are all over the border line, these drug lords often catch people crossing the border and requires fees be paid or they are turned over to border control. Mexican border towns such as Ciudad Juárez pose a major threat to women wanting to cross the border. Women are forced to put their lives on the line to cross, in the border towns women run the risk of being kidnapped or killed. The women who go through the legal process are forced to live in border towns to survive before they can leave for America. Many women have to turn to working in factories and as prostitutes in order to survive. The women who cross the border illegally with the aid of "coyotes" often face rape, abuse, and death. Many coyotes leave beaten or dead women along the trail as a warning to other women.

Map of border between U.S and Mexico