Flow of Central American Children Headed to U.S. Shifts but Doesn’t Slow
Azam Ahmed of the New York Times reports on recent developments in the flow of migrants north from Central America.
Last year, thousands of Central American migrants — many of them children — were detained at the border last year. A large number of unaccompanied children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have tried to reach the United States in the past two years.
Fewer Central Americans have been stopped along the southern border with Mexico in the last fiscal year. Some American officials have said this shows the success of tighter border controls and better public information campaigns in the region. In reality, the problem seems to have simply been pushed farther south: Many of the young migrants are now stopped entering Mexico.
The Mexican government detained close to 92,000 Central American migrants from October 2014 to April 2015. During the same period, the United States held 70,448 people from places other than Mexico.
KJ