Street violence is increasing among Central American and Mexican immigrants in Washington, DC, so are addictions, crime and mental disorders. This is due to the higher rates of unemployment among single male immigrants, and a stronger immigration law enforcement in the DC metropolitan area. Most of the affected people seem to be single Indigenous males.
Since the Maryland and Virginia legislatures decided to get tougher with immigration and employment regulations, many new comers have moded to the District, a safer place but where housing costs aren’t getting any cheaper and jobs are scarce. Single male immigrants -with no family in DC where to get help- are finding themselves in critical situations: jobless, homeless, depressed and surrounded by the wrong crowds. I once run into a Guatemalan indigenous man who was drunk and he begged me to call the DC police and have him arrested "I can’t live here anymore, I need to go back home, I want to be deported…" he begged me crying. I tried to tell him "don’t give up, don’t be a coward…" but he told me he needed his family more than ever.
Street violence
Two males were stabbed in the past two weeks in parks located in Adams Morgan, in the NW section of DC during daylight hours. Both attacks were apparently motivated by robbery and gang revenge.
The first crime occurred at Walter Pierce Park, in the afternoon hours of last Friday July 17. The victim was a Central American man who was stabbed in the face, after getting robbed by a group of what some described as a small gang of "Latino" young males. The police is looking for a male they describe as "Hispanic male". Then next week another man was stabbed at Malcolm X – Meridian Hill Park on Saturday July 25, late in the afternoon. I walked into that park when the crime had happened recently and an ambulance had just arrived, so I spoke to witnesses who said the criminal was a Salvadoran or Mexican man, who had already run away.
There I overheard a conversation of a group of Salvadoran and other Central American males talking about the incident. They said it was motivated by gangs beef, and when the DC police arrived this group walked away. The victim had friends in the site and they kept his backpack and bicycle. These guys seemed to be living in the streets or at least not doing too well financially. The DC Emergency response and DC police personnel were very polite and they had bilingual employees.
Both crimes occurred in parks where homeless immigrants hang out and some of them drink and smoke pot. Why would immigrants steal from immigrants? Because they are less likely to report the abuses to the police out of fear. This is something other criminals know well, when they target Indigenous or Native American workers, so called Latinos.
Loneliness is bad company
When undocumented immigrants workers -who are mostly male, young and alone- lose their jobs and are unable to find work because of their legal status in this country, that is when everything falls apart. Many of them fall into mental depression and addictions as their situations worsen. From my conversations with some of them I hear they tend to feel defeated both physically and spiritually. Also they feel pressured to send money home where their families are awaiting, so they will do anything to get money.
Then loneliness hit them. Most of undocumented immigrants in the District of Columbia are Indigenous peoples of Central America and Mexico, to whom family support is crucial and is part of their culture. When they become desperate for survival, they can easily be used by criminal groups who recruit them to do illegal actions like drug trafficking, fake ID’s sales, prostitution and robbery. None of that would be their first choices but things would force them, and once involved it will be hard to get out… unless they move to other cities.
What can the city do to help
Lets remember that street violence and poverty among undocumented workers is not a local problem of DC only, but a nationwide crisis among undocumented peoples who are seeing a decrease of jobs and opportunities at a time when immigration enforcement is increasing. As a shared responsibility the city of Washington, DC, can’t ignore the problem or this will only get worse.
Why should the city and the federal government help? Because it will be more expensive to do otherwise. The first step would be to offer these individuals some help to get them off the streets before they get in trouble. Here the charity organizations, religious and community groups can help to get them temporary housing, much needed spiritual help and addiction treatment.
Secondly and most importantly, there must be a voluntary repatriation program. This has been done before between the U.S. and Mexico governments. We must be aware that some of these men will never adjust to the life system of this country, as long as they stay undocumented. Waiting for a reform of the obsolete U.S. immigration legislation in the short term is only naive and not practical. Most politicians in charge are lying about this issue and the crisis is increasing.
Many of these guys have lost hope in life and they want to return to their home countries where their families and friends can help, but they don’t have the means to afford the trip. After I helped the Guatemalan man with words and money, he went on his way saying that he wanted to go home no matter what. I could have called immigration but only a heartless person would do that.
The problem with current Homeland Security’s deportation procedures is that it has become a business that keeps immigrants locked up in private detention centers, among dangerous criminals in many cases. Most of HS and detention centers’ employees don’t see immigrants as humans but as numbers: the more detained people, the more funds they get from the federal government. After months of being incarcerated and emotionally abused, undocumented workers are sent back home. That experience would leave them mentally stressed for a long time if not for the rest of their lives. If that is a way to help the nations security, I wonder what kind of country this is becoming.
Also DC police needs to be more specific when they refer to the crime suspects, if they want to find them. When they say "we are looking for a Hispanic male" they are not helping. I know is easier to group people but the generalization makes it harder to find the right person. If they ask witnesses they must be direct as "do they look Mexican, Salvadoran or what?" and that will help.
A voluntary repatriation program is needed for those men who are not willing to stay here in the U.S. but really lack of resources to return to their first countries. These individuals need love and care, the kind that sometimes only their families and friends can provide. They need to restore their souls, they need the energy of their land to recharge, they need peace of mind and recover the pride on themselves.
These men have seeing their souls being crushed in this country, as they are treated as second class people with no rights. The DC government along with the U.S. government and Latin American embassies must work together to do something to help these men.
Looking the other way will only promote more crime and human disgraces, and because we must help each other regardless of our nationality, race or gender. That is what progressive and civilized societies must do to guarantee a peaceful future for all. The tax payers funds invested in EMS response, police officers and so on, can be used instead in programs that allow undocumented immigrants a safe return to their families and friends.
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