This Teenager Knows a Secret to Slowing Guatemalan Migration
Share
[aggregation-styles]
The New York Times
The New York Times
HUEHUETENANGO, Guatemala — When Lesly Cano Gómez was 15, she wrote out her plan to migrate to America. “My dream is to go to the United States,” she wrote, followed by three discussion sections: “How Am I Going to Pay for It,” “Who’s Going to Take Me” and “Who’s Going to Meet Me When I Get to the United States.”
There were extensive family talks about the trip, which Cano Gómez would have undertaken with her cousin, Enilda, who is four years younger than her.
“There wasn’t anything here,” Cano Gómez explained. “That’s why I wanted to migrate.” She knew that along the way she could be murdered or trafficked to a brothel, or else die of thirst in the desert. “But I felt I needed to go,” she added. “The people I went to school with had migrated, a ton of them.”
There were extensive family talks about the trip, which Cano Gómez would have undertaken with her cousin, Enilda, who is four years younger than her.
“There wasn’t anything here,” Cano Gómez explained. “That’s why I wanted to migrate.” She knew that along the way she could be murdered or trafficked to a brothel, or else die of thirst in the desert. “But I felt I needed to go,” she added. “The people I went to school with had migrated, a ton of them.”
By Nicholas Kristof | 8 June 2019
RELATED TOPICS:
This Israeli Government Is a Danger to Jews Everywhere
Opinion /
7 hours ago
Judge Bars Trump Administration From Detaining Mahmoud Khalil
Courts /
5 hours ago
GM to Invest $4 Billion to Shift Some Production From Mexico to the US
Business /
6 hours ago
How Your Air Conditioner Can Help the Power Grid, Rather Than Overloading It
Energy /
6 hours ago
Hundreds of Laid-off CDC Employees Are Being Reinstated
Latest /
6 hours ago
This Israeli Government Is a Danger to Jews Everywhere
Opinion /
7 hours ago
Judge Bars Trump Administration From Detaining Mahmoud Khalil
Courts /
5 hours ago
GM to Invest $4 Billion to Shift Some Production From Mexico to the US
Business /
6 hours ago
How Your Air Conditioner Can Help the Power Grid, Rather Than Overloading It
Energy /
6 hours ago
Hundreds of Laid-off CDC Employees Are Being Reinstated
Latest /
6 hours ago
This Israeli Government Is a Danger to Jews Everywhere
Opinion /
7 hours ago
Latest
Videos

Science /
5 hours ago
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

Courts /
5 hours ago
Judge Bars Trump Administration From Detaining Mahmoud Khalil

Business /
6 hours ago
GM to Invest $4 Billion to Shift Some Production From Mexico to the US

Food /
1 week ago