Central American Kids' Crisis Alive and Well

The Obama Administration's efforts to curtail the flow of unaccompanied children from Central America during the past twelve months has managed to both stem the problem and exacerbate it at the same time.

The numbers for fiscal 2015 reflect  a reduction of 50-60 percent in the number of unaccompanied children from Central America who were released into the United States as compared to 2014. The Metro DC area (which on a per capita basis has one of the largest concentrations of these children- due to the large Salvadoran community here) has taken in about 2,500 children this year. In 2014, at the peak of the surge, about 7,000 children were released into the custody of relatives or guardians in the metro DC region. The same pattern is reflected nationally.

This reduction is due mainly to immigration enforcement on Mexico's southern border. Mexican officials have intercepted, detained and deported tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children trying to make it to the US border.  The factors pushing the migration are still there: Extreme violence from gangs, criminal organizations, drug cartels an sometimes the authorities. A pervasive impunity that offers little punishment for criminals and less protection for victims and of course underemployment and poverty. 

El Salvador has traded places with Honduras, its Northern Triangle neighbor, as the most violent country in the world. The murders there have reached the 5500 mark. El Salvador is a country with a population of 6 million. Between 1992-2015, there have been more than 90 thousand murders in El Salvador- surpassing the 75 thousand killed during the brutal Civil  War (Conflicto Armado-1979-1992) Gender based violence (rape, sexual slavery, assaults) is rampant. Because many households in El Salvador are headed by single mothers, this violence is generating a familial instability that is felt throughout the poorer sectors of Salvadoran society. This is displacing thousands of single mothers and their children,  first from their homes and then their country. The UN estimates that 289, 000 people have been internally displaced in El Salvador because of the violence in 2014.

The concern expressed by immigrant rights advocates is that a significant portion of these women and their children as well as some of the unaccompanied minors may have credible cases if they can reach US authorities and have legal representation. That is not happening,  either when they are detained in Mexico or after being returned home. The in-country processing system set up in the US embassies in Central America to allow people to seek parole, asylum or refugee status has proven to be cumbersome and slow- Some advocates charge that the company contracted by the State Department to handle the processing is incompetent and has a poor track record in other countries. Thousands have applied but  under 100 cases have been finalized- This is of course while the applicants continue to live in fear and remain exposed to the violence that is motivating their petitions. 

The plight of  hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees is beginning to capture the attention of many here in the United States-deservedly so- But, in a country where  paying attention to multiple complex issues appears to be beyond the capacity of many- the reality of tens of  thousands of unaccompanied children and single mothers from Central America is being forgotten. This crisis is alive and well and won't be going away anytime soon.