Girls’ scary trip from Central America to Lexington worth it

I feel free here. I feel safer, with more freedom to go outside. In my country, if I would go outside, I would feel scared that they (the gangs) could do something, that they could kidnap me.”

Posted: Monday, August 18, 2014 12:47 pm


By ALIA CONLY World-Herald News Service


The river was dirty, full of trash and discarded clothes from previous migrants. Sisters Carolina and Liseth were standing on Mexican soil. The Rio Grande separated them from the United States and their dreams for a safe future.


They had traveled on foot, by bus and in the backs of trucks for weeks, through mountains and across desert terrain with a human smuggler.


Crossing the river was the last step in their monthlong journey to the United States.


Carolina, 16, was afraid to cross. But she was the big sister, so she took 11-year-old Liseth by the hand and entered the river. The smuggler, who had been paid $14,000 to escort the girls, had dropped them off at a house in Reynosa, Mexico, just across the river from Hidalgo, Texas. Now they were following a man they had just met into the water.


Crossing on rafts because it was dangerous to swim, the sisters, now living in Lexington with an uncle and attending school, floated away from the violence and death threats in their native El Salvador, leaving behind tiring days, nights without sleep and horror stories about bad things that can happen to children on such a risky journey.


They had said goodbye to friends and left their home, sent off by the grandmother who was raising them, who hoped they would find a better life.


Stories about children like Carolina and Liseth have been repeated thousands of times in the past few years as unaccompanied minors have flowed across the southern U.S. border, in particular from violence-plagued Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The Child migrations have caused political furor nationally, with President Barack Obama calling it a humanitarian crisis and pushing for immigration reform, while others demand that the children be ejected and the security at the border be tightened.


Gov. Dave Heineman sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking the names of unaccompanied children sent to Nebraska, and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad requested similar information in a letter to President Barack Obama.


Stuck in immigration limbo


Carolina and Liseth now live with their uncle Roberto in Lexington, after spending about a month in immigration custody in Texas.


They’re stuck in limbo as they wait for their federal immigration trial in Omaha. The process might take several years because of an understaffed department that has been overwhelmed by a large caseload. The family agreed to share its story on the condition that the girls would be identified only by their middle names, for fear of harassment or discrimination.


Slowly, the sisters are acclimating to their new lives in Lexington, away from the intense poverty and gang-ridden violence they faced every day in San Luis Talpa.


The girls’ father died nine years ago. A year after that their mother abandoned them to slip across the U.S. border. The girls’ uncle said he hardly communicates with their mother, and that because of some personal problems his sister is having, he is caring for the girls.


“I feel free here,” Carolina said in Spanish during a phone interview from Lexington. “I feel safer, with more freedom to go outside. In my country, if I would go outside, I would feel scared that they (the gangs) could do something, that they could kidnap me.”


Gangs are rampant in El Salvador, which struggles with high levels of youth unemployment and poverty. Gang members frequently ask children for money or pressure them to join the gang. Children who refuse might be threatened or even killed.


Flourishing at Lexington High School


The sisters went to school on their third day in Nebraska.


Liseth attended an elementary school while Carolina headed to Lexington High School, whose student body is more than 75 percent Hispanic. Carolina entered the newcomer English Language Learners class, one of 17 students. Next, students move to middle- or top-level English learners classes based on reading skills and then join English-speaking students in various subjects.


About 40 migrant students at the school are in solely English-language classes. An additional 100 receive other English learners services while attending other classes.


Teacher Courtney Deuel says Carolina didn’t speak a word on her first day. Another student helped her by explaining high school policies in Spanish and helped her go to homeroom and physical education, her two mainstream classes.


Carolina joined the school’s soccer team, playing striker just as she had in El Salvador.


“To see someone like (Carolina) become involved in activities is really awesome,” Deuel said. “It helps learning the language but it also puts them with a social group. She’s really flourished and has a good group of friends.”


The sisters’ first appearance in immigration court was scheduled for July 29.


Uncle Roberto drove the three hours from Lexington to Omaha with Carolina, Liseth and Jennifer. Their attorney told the judge the girls plan to file for asylum and special immigrant juvenile status, for children who are abused, neglected or abandoned. Some children who can’t be reunited with a parent can receive a green card from the special immigration status, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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