RALEIGH, N.C.
Hispanic youths in North Carolina, struggling to find acceptance in U.S. culture, are increasingly turning to gangs and to other self-destructive behaviors, according to studies and those who follow the trends.
Mike Figueras, who runs a gang-prevention program for the Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo, said children whose needs are not met at home or at school are prime candidates for joining gangs because they seek a feeling of belonging.
“It’s so important to the kids that they’re willing to do anything,” he said. “We’re looking at 11-year-olds joining gangs.”
Hispanic gangs are the fastest growing segment of the underground culture in North Carolina, according to a 2005 study that found that Hispanic accounted for a quarter of the state’s nearly 400 gangs.
Nearly 9 percent of Hispanic high school students dropped out of high school in the 2005-06 school year — a rate higher than any other group in the state and double the rate of white. non Hispanic students, according to state figures.
The problems are getting worse, according to a national survey by New York University professor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. The study found that immigrant teens were doing worse in school after a five-year period from when the study began.
