Schools along the U.S.-Mexico border face many unique challenges not shared by schools elsewhere in the nation. In Texas, one of these problems is growing at an alarming rate, as schools along the Texas-Mexico border are being forced to find ways to reach out to Latino students who have been traumatized by drug-related violence.
Violence related to the ongoing drug war in Mexico is at its peak in the Northeastern Mexico states bordering Texas. Because of this, many families fleeing the nation out of fear for their lives end up in the state. Now, teachers in this region are reporting that they are faced with a growing population of schoolchildren who grew up exposed to dangerous conditions in Mexico, and are now traumatized as a result.
Some teachers describe these children, forced to live from an early age in fear of Mexican drug cartels, as not unlike returning veterans, shocked by their exposure to war. These children have either experienced or watched someone close to them experience muggings, kidnappings, shootouts and other incidents of gang violence. As such, they are plagued by the some of same emotional distresses that affect returning troops.
Texas schools are responding to this new challenge by offering counseling services and special classes geared towards impacted students.
Luckily, cities along the Arizona-Sonora border have not experienced the same degree of violence that has plagued cities in the Texas-Mexico border region, such as Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez. Still, this does not mean that many local students are not affected in this same way by Mexican drug violence. Some Mexican immigrant students in Southern Arizona come from places that are in the thick of the Mexican drug war, and many others may have been negatively impacted by the fear of such violence spreading to their hometowns.
In addition, there have been reports that drug-related violence could be growing along the Arizona-Sonora border. Some local authorities in fact claim that violence in this region might be a much greater problem than we realize, as criminal incidents may often go unreported if the victim is worried about retaliation or concerned regarding his or her immigration status. Therefore, it is a possibility that many Southern Arizona immigrant students could be facing the same distresses facing their Texan counterparts.
Just as Texas schools have made it their business to reach out to Mexican immigrant students affected by the violence in that country, so too must Arizona schools address this issue if they are to adequately and equally serve the region’s entire student population.
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