Oakland, Calif. — Young migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador come to this country fleeing violence and lives that are often dictated by savage gangs. It’s expensive to get here. They often arrive with thousands of dollars of high-interest debt and little or no English skills. And they face an administration that insists that they are gangsters bringing bloodshed and gang warfare to American cities.
In fact, these young people are often fleeing gangs. And the challenges they face in the United States make them particularly vulnerable for recruitment into the same violent gangs they left home to escape.
“They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into
bloodstained killing fields,” President Trump said of the members of MS-13, a
transnational gang composed largely of Central American youth; its activity has been growing in recent years, both in the United States and in Central America. A few weeks ago, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told law enforcement officers that these young, undocumented immigrants were “wolves in sheep’s clothing."
[For more on this story by Lauren Markham, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...occer-education.html]
Photo: Students at Oakland International High School, including some recent immigrants from Central America, during soccer practice for the Soccer Without Borders program. Monica Almieda / The New York Times
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