US and Mexico's Mass Deportations Have Fueled Humanitarian Crisis, Report Says Nina Lakhani - The Guardian
go to original July 29, 2016

Mass deportations and inadequate asylum procedures in Mexico and the US have fueled a humanitarian crisis where desperate Central Americans seeking refuge from rampant violence are routinely preyed upon by criminal gangs and corrupt officials, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG).

The tide of people fleeing Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala – three of the five most dangerous countries in the world – continues apace despite beefed-up border control measures implemented after Barack Obama declared the 2014 surge in undocumented migrants a humanitarian crisis. Last year, Mexico deported 165,000 Central Americans, while the US expelled 75,000.

In order to avoid detection, vulnerable people – who include increasing numbers of women and unaccompanied children – are forced to pay higher fees to smugglers, crooked officials, and kidnappers, and use riskier, more isolated routes through Mexico, according to the Easy Prey: Criminal Violence and Central American Migration. Once deported, many simply try again rather than face hunger and violence at home, creating a revolving door of vulnerable migrants and refugees.

The report comes after the US, for the first time, recognised that the surge in people currently fleeing Central America includes potential refugees, not just economic migrants. The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a new scheme whereby Costa Rica will offer temporary protection to 200 eligible Central American refugees at a time before they are settled in the US or another country.

Read the rest at The Guardian

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Related: Is a U.S. Move to Accept More Central American Refugees Too Little, Too Late? (World Politics Review)

Related: Some Immigrant Rights Activists Remain Distrustful of Hillary Clinton (The Huffington Post)

Related: Did Donald Trump Promise Mass Deportation of 'Latino Families'? (PolitiFact)

Related: Central Americans Are Running for Their Lives But Toward Detention and Deportation (Concord Monitor)

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