ZEKE Magazine: Fall 2021, Preview edition

PATH
AWAY
TENS OF THOUSANDS FLEE VIOLENCE,
CLIMATE CHANGE, AND ECONOMIC
COLLAPSE FOR NORTH AMERICA
ZEKE AWARD FIRST-PLACE WINNER
By Nicolò Filippo Rosso
Two months after Hurricanes Eta and
Iota hit Central America in November
2020, leaving 4.5 million victims of
flooding and mudslides in their wake,
11 thousand people gathered in San
Pedro Sula, Honduras starting the
first migrants’ caravan of the year heading
towards the United States. 2021 began
with one of the most significant migration
waves of the last decade posing a difficult
challenge for the new administration of
President Joe Biden.
The migrants’ crossing through gangcontrolled
areas, deserts, and jungles
is made even harder by the pandemic.
International aid is scant, and many
migrants’ shelters and charity kitchens
closed their doors to avoid contagion.
Thousands of migrants have reached
Mexico while walking along its southern
border with Guatemala, continuing the
migration routes of the Gulf of Mexico, and
the northern border with the United States to
seek asylum. However, hundreds of families
are expelled and returned to Mexico. Their
asylum claims are denied with arguments
based on Title 42, a U.S. statute that allows
the expulsion of migrants from a country
where a virus such as COVID-19 is present.
This is their story.
6 / ZEKE FALL 2021