Young Latinx Undocumented Immigrants and Gang Culture
For the many young Latinx undocumented immigrants making their way to the United States, achieving educational and financial success lies as the primary reason for departing their homeland. Unfortunately, in America’s society today many of them will face challenges that make pursuing these educational and financial goals a great difficulty. One of these challenges lies in the fact that being an undocumented immigrant makes it significantly harder to pursue an education due to the already existing language barrier and the fact that illegal immigrants cannot take advantage of the public schooling. As a result, some of these young Latinx undocumented immigrants are typically forced to leave behind their educational and financial goals as they are influenced to take part in gang culture.
Why is Gang Culture appealing to the youth?
Some of the major gangs that are currently casting their influence on young Latinx undocumented immigrants in today's American society include: the Bloods, Latin Kings, and MS-13. When it comes to joining and being initiated into a gang there are many motivations that can influence a young undocumented immigrant to do so. When one becomes part of a gang an individual can experience the feeling that they have achieved a status in which they are better than what they used to be. Many young undocumented immigrants coming to America typically have a poor socio-economic standing, so this increased level of status and recognition can most definitely seem appealing to them. Furthermore, many of the young Latinx undocumented immigrants typically live in communities where Gangs violence is already present which ultimately, results in fear. Due to this, gangs may further be more appealing as they may offer protection from violence within the neighborhood and allow a young member joining to establish new friends and an extension of family.
Moving Forward
Recently, The Trump administration has moved towards putting an end towards the DACA program stating that it hasn't been fair to“the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system” as it has “denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs.”. Since its creation, DACA's main purpose has been to protect undocumented immigrant youth from deportation and provide them with a work permit. This has allowed thousands of undocumented immigrant youth to not only improve their socio-economic standing, but has also served as foundation to allow these immigrants to pursue an education. As a result, the DACA's influential program has allowed undocumented immigrant youth to assimilate into American society and stay away from the harsh influence of gangs in their communities. Thus, Trump's decision to pursue ending this vital program has sparked much controversy in the past months as it has done so much good for the hard-working youth. In the coming months, it is essential that Trump, his administration, and Congress find a way to keep the DACA program from shutting it down and ultimately, allow it to enable the undocumented Latinx youth.
Sources:
https://undocu.berkeley.edu/legal-support-overview/what-is-daca/
http://www.lapdonline.org/top_ten_most_wanted_gang_members/content_basic_view/23473
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/politics/trump-daca-dreamers-immigration.html