The (Central) American Dream

“In 2011, there were 86.5. murders per 100,000 people in Honduras, making it one of the deadliest cities in the world,” says Mexican migrant Rafael Torres. “So naturally, when I heard that Hondurans were headed north to seek asylum, I sympathized. But then I checked the numbers. By 2017, that number had dropped to 42 per 100,000. You want to know how many murders there were per 100,000 in Tijuana in 2017? Over 100. And in 2018, we beat 2017’s homicide numbers by 40%. Forty percent! Mexico had five of the deadliest cities in the top ten in 2017. Honduras had nothing in the top twenty! The path was clear: though the journey would be long and hard, I knew that it was worth the risk for me and my family to have a better life. That is why I am walking south with so many of my Mexican brothers and sisters. Plus, Tijuana’s really gone downhill since all those Hondurans started camping out.”