New shelters are being opened at the U.S.-Mexico border to deal with the increase in unaccompanied children that are trying to enter the U.S., mostly from the Northern Triangle of Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, reported The New York Times. October 2015 saw twice as many unaccompanied minors at the border as October 2014. This year, nearly 4,500 minors were stopped, reported KNPR.
Border patrol officials said that these children generally do not attempt to run away from them but turn themselves in, hoping to receive asylum, noted The New York Times.
El Salvador has been a huge contributor of migrants to the U.S.. Due to massive national gang violence, it has become the murder capital of the world, with more than 4,500 homicides this year alone, reported the Times. "There's fear in the streets wherever we go," said Antonio Turcios, who wants to go to the U.S. legally with his family and sought out an interview at the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador. Most Salvadorans who want to flee do not go the legal route because their situations are too dire to await the bureaucratic slog that is immigration, noted KNPR.
Alberto Arene, former Chief of CEPA (El Salvador's airport and port agency), said that due to the surge of gang warfare that reflects the nation's poverty and inequality, the countries of the northern triangle "are trapped in a vicious circle of murder and economic and social stagnation," reported KNPR.
Many teenage boys flee to the U.S. to avoid forced recruitment by gangs, and girls often flee due to fear of the widespread sexual assaults that plague these countries, reported The New York Times.
Border officials say that the increased flow of unaccompanied minors has not yet caused strain on their operations, but new shelters are being opened "out of an abundance of caution," said Marsha Catron of the Department of Homeland Security, noted the New York Times.
"We are closely monitoring current trends and coordinating across the whole of government to ensure an effective response to any changes in migration flows. We are diligently working to secure our borders, address underlying causes and deter future increases in unauthorized migration while ensuring that those with legitimate humanitarian claims are afforded the opportunity to seek protection," U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement, according to The Brownsville (Texas) Herald.
