Everyday thousands of people migrate to the United States for different

reasons. Among those immigrants, it is not rare to find many children

from Central America fleeing their homelands to escape
poverty, drugs, and violence. A big portion of these kids is entering the
US by themselves in order to reunite with their parents on the other
side of the border. Sonia Nazario is an American journalist that has
published several essays and articles that focus on child migration
from countries like Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador. Sonia is
commited to draw attention and spread awareness of the situation that
child migrants live everyday trying to escpae their countries. This is
illustrated in both the biography “Enrique’s Journey” and the editorial
"The Children of the Drug Wars". While in this case the biography and
editorial were written to accomplish the same, there are many
differences that can be seen in each text of how the author sends a
message using two contrasting genres.

"Enrique's Journey", as the name suggests, tells the expedition a

Honduran boy named Enrique had to go through in order to reunite
with his mother in the US. Sonia Nazario presents a real life situation
that many foreign children go through. This biography shows through
Enrique's experience, how tough the migration conditions are, all of the
violence they have to face from street gangsters and Narcos, and all
the dangers the children are exposed to. To get to the United States,
Enrique's journey was not easy. He had to face extreme temperatures
like we can see in this statement, "Enrique's head throbs. The sun
reflects off the metal. It sting his eyes, and his skin tingles" (Nazario).
But that is not all. He also shared the train with several street
gangsters, where he faced dangerous and tense moments . Most
street gangsters were violent as we can see in this next phrase said by
Jorge Mauricio Mendoza Pineda, a member of a gang "They give me
their money---If someone says 'Please don't kill me; I won't listen"
(Nazario). Nazario's work appeals to the reader's senses because she
provides specific details that help the audience empathize with the
situation. She also uses figurative language to add suspense and
emotion to the text, as seen in this next phrase "The Iron Worm
squeaks, groans, and clanks---" (Nazario). Sonia uses this expression
to create imagery and help the reader picture the train all the people
traveling with Enrique were on.

"The Children of the Drug Wars" is an editorial piece written by Sonia

Nazario that provides facts and, her opinions on what she refers as a
"refugee crisis". She strongly criticizes the US government and its
policies on giving asylum to child refugees from Central America. After
reading this editorial, the reader will most likely comprehend what is
causing these children to leave their homelands, which is mainly due to
the extreme amount of violence they receive. As a matter of fact, Sonia
presents information from The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees that say that from an interview performed to 404
children "58% of them said that their primary reason for leaving was
violence" (Nazario). Throughout the text, she gives different opinions
and solutions that could help make these children safe. For example,
she says "We must address the complex root of the causes of violence
in Honduras, as well as the demand for illegal drugs on the United
States that is fueling that violence" (Nazario). Sonia also claims that
the US actions, undermine their credibility as a humane country
since right now judges deny 7 out of 10 applications for shelter, border
patrol agents fail to screen children, and countries like Jordan accepted
in two days what the US has received in an entire month. The goal of
this editorial is to make the readers recognize that there is a lot more
the United States can do for these immigrants, and as she says "These
children are facing threats similar to the forceful conscription of child
soldiers by warlords in Sudan or during the civil war in Bosnia"
(Nazario).

Even though Sonia uses different genres of writing, she is able to make
the same impact with the two of them. The similarities are that she
uses concrete examples, she talks about the same topic, with both
texts she is able to spread awareness about the situation that kids from
Central America have to face on a daily basis in order to have access
to a safer and better future in the United States, through both texts
Nazario allows the reader to comprehend this situation and form an
opinion on based on actual facts and experiences, and in both
narratives, she appeals to the reader's senses by providing a lot of
details, examples, and figurative language. The difference between the
works are that the biography is written in third person, and she
provides vivid details about the setting of the journey. Unlike the
editorial where she writes in first person, provides personal thoughts
and opinions, she uses persuasive language to convince the readers
about the situation, and she is personally calling for action from the
government.

In conclusion, with the two texts Nazario makes the point that we
should help these immigrants since they are just people, in most cases
children, seeking for a better life, escaping from the violence they face
at their home countries. She uses different genres to talk about the
same topic, in order to generate consciousness about this situation that
is affecting thousands of people from Central America. Nazario's
editorial uses language that encourages readers to take action, and
with the biography she is able to transmit what the children must go
through, in this case for Enrique to reunite with his mother.