Violence, Poverty, is Driving Children To Flee Central America to U.S.

Pew Research Center

PHOENIX — Thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children have crossed the U.S. border in recent months, 

According to the Pew Research Center, many, if not all of these can be attributed to poverty and regional violence in three Central American countries. 

They also said the reasons driving the migration are different for each country, attributing it to local conditions.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security detailed the specific hometowns and cities of unaccompanied children apprehended at the U.S. border. According to the agency, the number of children caught at the border has nearly doubled in less than a year, a situation that President Obama has called “an urgent humanitarian situation.”

The three top municipalities sending children to the U.S. are all in Honduras. San Pedro Sula leads the list, with more than 2,200 unaccompanied minors apprehended between January and May of this year. 

Unaccompanied minor children are not just from Central America. According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 11,000 children from Mexico were apprehended between October 1, 2013 and May 31 of this year. 

Yesterday, President Obama announced that he would be taking more executive action on immigration as Congress has failed to pass an immigration bill. During his announcement, the president said the current crisis at the border underscores the need to drop politics and pass immigration reform.