The book Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario tells the story of a boy whose mother leaves him at a young age in order to find a better life in the United States. But this is not an unusual story; each year, many mothers in Honduras leave their families in pursuit of opportunities in the United States, often at the cost of a painful separation from their children. Why do so many mothers choose to make this painful separation and journey?

The Republic of Honduras is in Central America between Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Honduras has a total area of 43,278 square miles, making the country slightly bigger than Tennessee. Most of the interior of the country is mountainous with a temperate climate, and the coasts have a subtropical climate. Hurricanes are a huge threat to the country, and earthquakes are common but usually mild. Honduras has a population of 6,975,204 people.

Honduras is the second poorest country in South America. Half of the population in Honduras earns less than three dollars a day, and 60% of the population lives below the poverty line. The country also has an extremely unequal distribution of wealth. In rural areas, families typically live in small huts and depend on farming. Much of the land in Honduras is not ideal for farming, which results in many rural families having low incomes and low standards of living. In the urban areas of Honduras, the very rich live alongside the very poor. In the country’s major cities, such as Tegucigalpa, many people live in packed slums, where on average, seven people share one room. Overall, the country has low standards of living, and there are not many opportunities for people to improve their lives while living in Honduras.

In 1998, Honduras was devastated by the disastrous Hurricane Mitch. Hurricane Mitch killed over 5,000 people in Honduras and left over 1.5 million people homeless. The hurricane caused over two billion dollars of damage to the roads, bridges, and buildings in Honduras. Hurricane Mitch also destroyed the majority of the country’s agricultural crop for the season. Honduras’s economy was weak before the hurricane, and once the hurricane hit the country, the economy came to a stop, and is still slowly recovering from the damage to this day.

Even though the United States is in a recession and unemployment is a widespread issue, illegal immigrants often don’t have a hard time finding jobs in the United States. Many jobs that the immigrants work are in agriculture, factories, construction, or restaurants. These are the jobs that Americans don’t seem to want, so they’re available for illegal immigrants to take. In some states, such as Alabama, there are strict laws and fines for companies that hire illegal immigrants, but without immigrants working these jobs, these industries suffer. Even though illegal immigrants are not usually welcomed into the United States, they do help many industries and the economy by working these undesirable, yet important jobs.

Honduran immigrants that come to the United States often send huge portions of their earnings back to help their families in Honduras. The money that is sent back is extremely important to the Honduran economy, as that money makes up more than 25% of the country’s gross domestic product . Honduras heavily depends on the United States for the success of its economy, and not just for the money that immigrants send back. In fact, about half of the activity in Honduras’ economy is directly tied in with the United States, as the United States it its largest trading partner. In 2010, the United States bought 41% of Honduran exports. The United States also provides economic and military aid for Honduras. Honduras is clearly very dependent on the United States for their economy; which is unfortunate now, because since the United States is experiencing a recession, the Honduran economy also suffers by association.

When looking at the facts and numbers about the economies in the United States and Honduras, the economies seem to be vastly different. The two countries have dramatically different GDP per capitas, with $4,400 USD for Honduras and $49,000 USD for the United States. 60% of Honduras’ population lives below the poverty line, while 15.1% of the United State’s population lives below the poverty line. Much of the Honduran economy is tied to agriculture, important products being bananas and coffee, while the United State’s economy is one of the most powerful economies in the world.

As you can see, many people in Honduras suffer because of the poor economy. Even though the economy in the United States is not at it’s strongest, it’s still appealing to many Honduran immigrants. The United States would not be what it is today without immigrants coming, hoping to improve their lives. I hope that after reading this paper, people think about the conditions that many immigrants are leaving when they come into the United States, and not judge them too harshly.