Enrique's+Journey

By Sonia Nazario
 * Enrique's Journey**


 * __Overview__**

"In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States. When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor to feed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States. The move allows her to send money back home to Enrique so he can eat better and go to school past the third grade. Lourdes promises Enrique she will return quickly. But she struggles in America. Years pass. He begs for his mother to come back. Without her, he becomes lonely and troubled. When she calls, Lourdes tells him to be patient. Enrique despairs of ever seeing her again. After eleven years apart, he decides he will go find her. Enrique sets off alone from Tegucigalpa, with little more than a slip of paper bearing his mother’s North Carolina telephone number. Without money, he will make the dangerous and illegal trek up the length of Mexico the only way he can–clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains. With gritty determination and a deep longing to be by his mother’s side, Enrique travels through hostile, unknown worlds. Each step of the way through Mexico, he and other migrants, many of them children, are hunted like animals. Gangsters control the tops of the trains. Bandits rob and kill migrants up and down the tracks. Corrupt cops all along the route are out to fleece and deport them. To evade Mexican police and immigration authorities, they must jump onto and off the moving boxcars they call El Tren de la Muerte–The Train of Death. Enrique pushes forward using his wit, courage, and hope–and the kindness of strangers. It is an epic journey, one thousands of immigrant children make each year to find their mothers in the United States. Based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper series that won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for feature writing and another for feature photography, Enrique’s Journey is the timeless story of families torn apart, the yearning to be together again, and a boy who will risk his life to find the mother he loves."


 * __Voice Thread__**

media type="custom" key="3388012"


 * __Key Words__**

Honduras, poverty, illegal immigration


 * __Google Alerts__**

rss url="http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=central+american+immigration+and+poverty&output=rss" link="true" number="5"

[] || This is a list of frequently requested statistics on immigration such as the racial composition, number of immigrants, and their role in the workplace. || [] || This is a video showing what Barack Obama, our new president, plans to do about the ever-growing immigration problem. || [] || This is a podcast discussing the various issues concerning immigration such as the US's policy on the subject. || [] || This is a personal account of the current poverty existing in modern-day Honduras. Travis Lupick describes the resounding amount of crime and poverty in the third world country of Honduras. || [] || This article describes the current border patrol situation in Texas, most definitely more secure than during the time Enrique would have reached it. It reveals many ways in which illegal immigrants beat the system. || [|http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5588209839773959501] [|&ei=5NaxSY_GOorEqQLb6ZzlCA&q=honduras+tegucigalpa&hl=en] || This video, although not completely related to the topic, shows examples of the complete poverty in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. || [] || This fact sheet on illegal immigration from Mexico describes the various ways in which people can illegally cross United States borders. || [|http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/48388ce4-7279-11] [|da-9ff7-0000779e2340.html?nclick_check=1] || This article discusses how the IMF, in 2005, approved economic relief for multiple countries that are in extreme debt and poverty. Honduras was one of these countries. ||
 * __Bibliography__**
 * **Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants in the United States**
 * **Blueprint for Change: Immigration**
 * **Immigration**
 * **A Walk Through the Poverty of Honduras**
 * **US Border Patrol Texas**
 * **Christian Child-Care Ministry, Casa De Luz, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras**
 * **Modes of Entry for the Unauthorized Migrant Population**
 * **IMF approves debt relief for poorest countries**