Flow of Central American Children Headed to US-Mexico Border Shifts But Doesn't Slow Azam Ahmed - The New York Times
go to original October 6, 2015

Between Borders: American Migrant Crisis (The New York Times)

The recent images of tens of thousands of desperate asylum seekers streaming into Europe recall a smaller but significant migration crisis unfolding along the southern border of the United States: Waves of Central American migrants — many of them children — were detained at the border last year.

A disturbing number of unaccompanied children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have tried to reach the United States in the past two years, risking detention by law enforcement, abuse by human traffickers and dire conditions along the way.

From the beginning of October 2013 through July of this year, nearly 80,000 unaccompanied minors from those Central American countries were detained by United States authorities along the Mexican border.

And those were the ones who made it that far. Others were ransomed by the very smugglers to whom their families paid thousands of dollars to sneak them into the United States. Some lost limbs during the journey or found themselves sold into sexual slavery, still others turned back.

What would drive children to make such a perilous journey without their parents or another adult?

Read the rest at The New York Times

Related: For Many Central American Migrants, The U.S. Border Is Now Beyond Reach (Kera News)

Related: Mediterranean Named the World's Deadliest Crossing for Migrants as 75% of Deaths in Sea (Express)

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