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Pedro Flores

Professor Holly

English 101

4 June 2018

What Really Happens in the US and Mexican Border

Many people from different parts of the world have the dream of coming to the United

States to have a better life than the one they had in their country. Crossing the border of the

United States is one of the most difficult activities to do because there is a lot of drug trafficking

around the border of Mexico and the US and other things that can put any persons life in danger.

Although people think that crossing the border of the United States is simple and the ones

migrating do not face any challenges. I argue that Alex Espinoza shows in the novel Still Water

Saint how Rodrigo was a victim of sex trafficking and was sexually assaulted during his journey

to the United States of America.

In the novel we see that most of the characters struggled with personal life problems. The

struggles Rodrigo had were much bigger because he had to leave his hometown Michoacán at

the age of 15 to go to a new environment that he was not use to. Everything got worse because

the person that was going to help Rodrigo cross the border had moved to a different place.

Rodrigo did not knew anyone at Tijuana, and he was robbed and all the money his dad gave him

was gone. He was living in the street and had to cover himself with carton boxes; he met a guy

name Felix and he helped Rodrigo by giving him money so he can buy food but he wanted

something back which was sexual contact; however Felix felt uncomfortable and told Rodrigo to

leave. Rodrigo met with a guy called Chino who took him to a place called Estrellitas that was a

bar for men. The owner of the bar was Ignacio and he sold Rodrigo to Dwight; at first Dwight
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treated Rodrigo really well but once they got to the USA he was abusing him and it got to the

point that he raped him.

In a daily basis there are women, young people and older men that get sexually assaulted

when they try to cross the border between the US and Mexico. The 80% of women that try to

come to the United States are usually sexually assaulted and if they have the needed to use their

body as a payment to other men they will do it just to reach their goal. In the novel Rodrigo

plays an important role about sexual assault because he was being abused by Dwight and he also

had to sexual actions with Felix in order for him to reach his goal. The author shows this actions

in the novel when Felix helps Rodrigo and when Dwight abused Rodrigo. The quote states “I’ll

give money, Felix said to Rodrigo’’… “[b]ut you have to give me something back.’’ [h]e graded

his hand and placed it between his legs” (Espinoza 162). “Rodrigo reached out, swating the air

with his left hand as Dwight raped him.’’ (Espinoza 170). This example illustrates how Rodrigo

had to do what he was told by Felix because he did not had enough money to keep himself alive

because he was robbed. Felix did not help out Rodrigo because he was being a good person he

was doing it because he wanted something in return and he got what he wanted. The second

example shows how Rodrigo was sexually assaulted by Dwight but there was nothing he could

of done because Dwight was the owner of Rodrigo because he was sold to him by Ignacio and

had full control over him. Another Example that shows Sexual Assault is the article

called Women crossing the U.S. border, the article shows a 14 year old that was rape, the quote

sates, “[t]he young girl seemed pretty scared to get in the vehicle with everyone,” Bidegain said.

“One of the members of the group pulled an agent aside and told him the story about how this

girl had been raped by one of the guys in the group”( Joffe Block, Jude). This quote shows how

anyone has the risk of being sexually assaulted by anyone mostly if it is a young person and the
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aggressor knows that that could be an easy target and the ones that are the most common to

happen is to girls and is sad to see kind of news. Sadly this kind of things are going to be

happening because people and are still going to keep trying to migrated to a country just for a

better future.

Sex trafficking has being a big problem and it is around our neighborhoods in our city’s

and is just in all the countries of the world. Every year there is about 2 million children that are

victims of sex trafficking. In the noble Still Water Saint Rodrigo is a victim of sex trafficking

when he started working for Ignacio. The quote states “Go with him,” Ignacio said. “[he will]

take you to Dwight.” ”Rodrigo was told to pack up all his things and leave with this stranger.

(Espinoza 167)” This quote shows how Ricardo was a victim of sex trafficking because he left

with Dwight because he bought him from Ignacio. I am sure that Rodrigo did not know what he

was getting into when he when with Chino to the Estrellitas bar. Mostly because he was 15 and

all he wanted was money to be able to cross the border and be able to reunite with his brother.

Another Example that shows Sex trafficking is the article called Anti-Slavery International, the

article shows an interview of a victim that expresses the pain she when through, the interview

states “[w]hen I was 15, a woman who initially helped me sent me to England. On the first day in

England, a man came, raped me and beat me – I was terrified. He forced me to have sex with lots

of different men he brought to the house. It was horrible” (What Is Human Trafficking?). This

quote shows how terrible sex trafficking can be to the victims it can change anyone’s life in a

couple of second. It relates to what Rodrigo when through because they both experience rape and

how they were both physical abused by the person that bought them. How can this kind of people

do this for a living knowing that they are destroying kid’s lives and their families by taking them

away from them.

Although many people might think that crossing the border is something simple to do and

the people that are migrating do not face any challenges on their journey. Although I argue that

crossing the border it is one of the most dangerous things to do because people have to jump a 20

feet wall that can cause physical problems if you are not good at climbing. That’s not all they

have to face, if they walk on the Sonora desert and they get lost and could end up dehydrated and

could die; the ones that decided to cross the border by the Rio Grande could end up dead if they

do not know to swim. At the end of the day many immigrants that try to cross the border could

end up death and it does not matter what way they take. One good example that states the

amount of people that have died while they are trying to cross the border is Smithsonian. It states

that “[i]n the past 14 years, more than 6,000 people have died trying to migrate through the

U.S.’s southern border, a new report by the International Organization for Migration says. Just in

the past year, as many as 445 people died trying to pass into the U.S., reports the Toronto Star;

that number comes from the U.S. Border Control and may be a low estimate” (Schultz, Colin)

This embodies the amount of people that had died by trying to cross the border between the

United States and Mexico. I am sure that there are other dangerous thing that can happened to

anyone when they are trying to cross the border and it is sad because they are probably running

away from gangs or any drug dealing group in their country and some of them end up dead in the

progress of making a better life than the one they had in their country.

People should stop criticizing immigrants because they migrated to different countries,

they migrate to another country because probably in their country they were not able to have a

future and going to a different country gives immigrants a chance to have a bright future. We do

not know what were the struggles they had to face while trying to cross the border and the thing

that they experience because they could of being sexually assaulted, or being victims of sex
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trafficking and not be able to reach their goal. I do not think is possible for people to stop

migrating to a different country but what we can do is stop thinking that they just come here to

be one more problem to our society. Instead we should think about the struggles and how much

they could of suffer and giving them credit because not everyone leaves everything they had in

their country and start from zero in a country that is different to what they are used to.
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Works Cited
Joffe-Block, Jude. “Women Crossing the U.S. Border Face Sexual Assault with Little
Protection.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,
31Mar.2014,www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/facing-risk-rape-migrant-women-prepare-
birth-control.
Schultz, Colin. “Nearly 6,000 Migrants Have Died Along the Mexico-U.S. Border Since \
2000.”Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Oct. 2014,
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nearly-6000-migrants-have-died-along-mexico-
us-border-2000-180952904/.
“What Is Human Trafficking?” Anti-Slavery International,
www.antislavery.org/slavery today/human-
trafficking/?gclid=CjwKCAjwlcXXBRBhEiwApfHGTTxayZpPmsGrOFVlqXaw7Rwdg
zyZ02r9vU1aZ0s2VzOM0PFwj8ppURoCzWAQAvD_BwE.