Luz María Hernández mira inexpresivamente a través del patio sombreado, con un teléfono celular en una mano y un pañuelo empapado en la otra. Hace menos de 48 horas, Hernández, de 45 años, fue deportada a Tijuana después de 25 años como migrante indocumentada en el sur de California.
Luz María Hernández gazes blankly across the shaded courtyard, clutching a cellphone in one hand and a sodden handkerchief in the other. Less than 48 hours ago, Hernández, 45, was deported to Tijuana after 25 years as an undocumented migrant in southern California. Her five children, aged three to 23, were born in California, and they now have to live without their mother.
Minutes before being escorted to the border, US immigration agents informed her that she was banned from entering the US for 10 years.
“Nos obligan a meternos en las maras, y si uno no quiere nos matan”
Cientos de menores de edad emprenden el viaje hacia Estados Unidos en busca de asilo para evitar ser reclutados o asesinados por las maras. Pero pocas o nulas veces consiguen su propósito, y al ser deportados por el gobierno de ese país, deben enfrentarse al deseo de venganza de las pandillas.
El Salvador is contending with an epidemic of gang violence. The small but densely populated Central American nation registered more homicides in 2015 than in any year during its protracted civil war, and young people are particularly vulnerable. Violent crime perpetrated by the “maras”, as the gangs are known, has claimed the lives of 7,500 young Salvadorans since mid-2014.