Essay Questions

How does Luiselli employ logos in her text? What is the implication of the logos?

Luiselli writes, “Rapes: 80% of the women and girls who cross Mexico to get to the US border are raped on the way. The situation is so common that most of them take contraceptive precautions as they begin the journey north." Abductions: in 2011, the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico published a special report on immigrant abductions and kidnappings, revealing that the number of abduction victims between April and September 2010 – a period of just six months – was 11,333.”

The statistics provided underscore the precariousness of migrating through Mexico. The victims of rape may wound up with unwanted pregnancies and diseases. Abductions of the immigrants confirm that their journey is not smooth since the abductions' end results would be torture and death. The immigrants are not guaranteed security and their inherent rights in the course of their migration.

What motivates the children to migrate to America while unaccompanied?

Luiselli explains, “Their answers vary, but they often point to a single pull factor: reunification with a parent or another close relative who migrated to the U.S. years earlier. Other times, the answers point to push factors—the unthinkable circumstances the children are fleeing: extreme violence, persecution and coercion by gangs, mental and physical abuse, forced labor, neglect, abandonment. It is not even the American Dream that they pursue, but rather the more modest aspiration to wake up from the nightmare into which they were born.”

Manifestly, the desire to reunite with their kin motivates the children to undertake the precarious journeys. Besides, some children experience difficult conditions in the home country until they reckon that they can only be secure in America. Their experiences back in their home countries are similar to nightmares that cannot cease until they have moved out.

How does the media contribute to the dehumanization of immigrant children?

Luiselli remarks, “In varying degrees, some papers and webpages announce the arrival of undocumented children like a biblical plague. Beware the locusts! They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen—these menacing, coffee-colored boys and girls, with their obsidian hair and slant eyes. They will fall from the skies, on our cars, on our green lawns, on our heads, on our schools, on our Sundays.”

The media's rhetoric which encourages the equating of the immigrant children to a plague encourages stereotypes against the children. Consequently, uncritical consumers of the media content deem the children to be barbaric personas who should not be permitted to reside in America because they would trigger chaos. The media has encouraged the demonization of immigrant children by perpetuating adverse stereotypes. The demonization of immigrant children makes them seem like 'lesser children' than American children.