ImmigrationWhy Central American Migrants Are Arriving at the U.S. Border

By Paul J. Angelo

Thousands of people are arriving at the U.S. southern border after fleeing the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. President Biden is reviving efforts to tackle the problems that are prompting them to migrate.

Why are people leaving the Northern Triangle?
Economic precariousness, government corruption, crime, violence, and—increasingly—climate change are all driving migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. A majority of Guatemalans and Hondurans live below the poverty line, and most people in the Northern Triangle are employed in the informal sector, which deprives them of social protections and insurance. The pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Latin America in public health and economic terms, has laid bare governance deficiencies across the region. Meanwhile, the erosion of democratic checks and balances by populist politicians and corrupt officials has left many Northern Triangle residents exasperated and disenfranchised.

Despite seeing reductions in homicides, the Northern Triangle countries remain among the most dangerous in the world. High rates of domestic violence and gang recruitment of minors have contributed to a surge in unaccompanied children and families journeying to the U.S.-Mexico border. Likewise, after a decade of shifting weather patterns and resultant food insecurity, back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes struck Central America this past fall: the storms eviscerated subsistence farms, killed hundreds of thousands of livestock, and devastated large-scale agricultural production. Many people in the region have family ties to the United States and, in the face of such adversity, migrate with the hopes of reuniting with loved ones and improving their lives.

Are governments in the region doing anything to curb emigration?
Mexico. The Mexican government announced that it will close its borders to nonessential travel to contain the spread of COVID-19, and Mexico’s National Guard and army stepped up enforcement on the southern border with Guatemala in recent weeks. Similar efforts in the past resulted in a temporary decrease in migration. The country has also expanded its own asylum programs and is on track to set a national record this year for number of asylum requests processed.

Guatemala. In January, Guatemalan soldiers blocked part of a caravan of some nine thousand migrants from Honduras. Yet, many of these migrants found passage into Guatemala and onward to Mexico through informal border crossings or by hiring human smugglers