Analysis Of The Des Moines Latino Center Where I Met Joe...

For the community engagement part of my project, I had reached out to the Des Moines Latino Center where I met Joe Gonzalez. Joe works with many Latinos and does a lot of community outreach to help people and help them get their stories shared with the right people. Joe is also a former Lieutenant for the Des Moines Police Department. After meeting Joe, I can say that he is a great person and just wants to help others out in any way possible. He directed me to a family that he has been working with who has recently moved here from Mexico and has a story to share. This family consist of a young man at the age of 22 named Paul and his three sisters who are 13, 16, and 17 years old. I conducted an interview with Paul, his sisters, and Joe. We†¦show more content†¦For Paul, it all started about 10 years ago when his dad started working with the United States Government, DEA and the Mexican Government. He was doing computer work with cars that involved GPS and other tracking devi ces. They moved from different states in Mexico and the United States doing this work for awhile but mostly stayed in Mexico City, Mexico. Paul told me that he remembers Mexico as a safe place because there are not high crime rates in Mexico City, as it is a large city that holds the president and many other important officials. Paul told me that most of the cartels and violence happen in the rural areas that are smaller and easier to take over. About four years ago, things turned bad for Paul and his family as the cartels found out that he was working with government officials and the DEA. As Paul’s father actually worked on both sides of the conflict. While he was helping out the government, he was also running computer devices, secret compartments, etc. for cartels and gangs as well. When these gangs found out about this, they burned down his father’s shop and ever since then he has been on the run from these members. As soon as this started happening, Paul’s dad worked with the government to get his children here to the United States to keep them safe and out of harms way. This is how Paul and his sisters ended up here and how Paul was put as guardian of all of his sisters. His parents were supposed