No Refuge: Children at the border
Fault Lines goes behind the numbers to examine the child migration boom from Central America to the US border.
A humanitarian crisis is unfolding along the US border with Mexico. Rising gang violence in Mexico and Central America is pushing thousands of migrant children to flee their homes and seek refuge by attempting to cross the US border.
Between 2011 and 2013, the number of unaccompanied minors detained at the border rose by 142 percent. Nearly 70,000 unaccompanied minors have arrived since October 2013 and by the end of fiscal year 2014, the number of child migrants detained at the border is expected to double again.
“These are innocent children, fleeing desperate times, whether it’s poverty, whether it’s violence, whether it’s the draw of a better life in the United States,” Border Patrol agent Kevin Oaks told Fault Lines.
What have these children left behind? And will they be able to stay in the US?
Fault Lines goes behind the numbers to examine the wave of child migrants from Central America to the US border, the reasons why they are leaving, and the risks they undertake.
