? Patrick Henry once said “Give me liberty or give me death. ” Most people agree with what he said because freedom is what makes life worth living. People should have certain freedoms no matter what country they live in. In the book Enrique’s Journey it shows how people in Latin America are often denied the right to travel which is also a problem in America and this can cause people to travel dangerously and illegally. People have the right to travel and when they are denied this right it can cause complete chaos which is demonstrated in this book.
This problem is very serious in the country of Mexico and in America we are often denied this right in a unique way. All throughout America and Central American countries like Mexico, because people face this human rights issue it causes them to be separated from their families and their loved ones. In Enrique’s journey because Enrique is legally not allowed to travel to America he is unable to see his mother. He misses her deeply and because he does not get to see her for years it causes him deep emotional damage and it even leads to him doing drugs and feeling unloved.
Unfortunately this happens to thousands of kids and even adults in both Mexico and America. Not only does this cause emotional damage but it even can lead to very difficult financial hard ships for families. Some people want to get a job in America or another area and because they are denied the right to travel they can’t achieve their goals. Enrique’s mother has trouble making enough money because she is an immigrant and therefore she does not want to get caught so she can only accept low paying low profile jobs.
It’s sad enough that families have to deal with these emotional struggles as well as financial struggles but what is often even worse than these things is the physical torture and dangers of trying to travel illegally. Most kids in Mexico and other countries in the area have to travel by physically grasping onto high speed trains and this is extremely dangerous. Far too many times young kids are too weak to hold on and they are sucked under the train and killed or lose limbs. But the difficulties do not stop there.
These kids are often chased by police and even worse gang members. Hundreds of kids every day are beaten, mugged, killed, raped, or very sadly experience all of these horrific events. Most of these struggles would be never heard of if only these people weren’t denied the right to travel. Just to make things worse for these helpless people they also face social anxiety and loneliness because they are always afraid of being physically harmed by other people and because they can’t be found by the police or they will be deported back to wherever they came from.
Also, because they cannot be noticed or stand out they often can’t get a job because it is too risky for them so instead they beg for money. Because of this many kids die of starvation or become very sick or ill. Not only do they face these problems like disease but because they become weak and are often alone they become more vulnerable to gang members and being killed or mugged. But if these people were just able to freely travel they would not experience these horrific scenarios and events.
Being denied your human right to travel is a problem in many countries throughout the world but it’s a huge problem in Mexico and other central and southern American countries and even in America. It causes hopeless people to lose their families, money, lives, and go through torturous and unimaginable situations. Many people think it is better off for people to not be allowed to travel to other countries and for their traveling rights to be denied but if they knew what thousands of people go through every year just to see their family and make life better for themselves, maybe their view would change.