Why Central Americans flee to the U.S. despite "zero tolerance"

[icymist]

Behind the global furor over America’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy are tens of thousands of adults and children — most of them from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — who have risked extortion and sexual violence along the journey, and now separation from their families upon arrival. So why take those risks to reach the U.S.?

Non-Mexicans apprehended crossing the southwest border


The big picture: This is not just a U.S. immigration crisis —it’s a Central American refugee crisis which started around 2013 and has continued to this day. In these countries, fear is often the primary motivator, rather than economic incentives.

By the numbers

*Families: Nearly 200,000 parents and children have been apprehended crossing the Southern border from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in under three years, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
*Unaccompanied minors: Beginning in 2013, the number of children apprehended at the border without a parent has spiked, with more than 200,000 coming from the three countries since that time. This year, the vast majority have come from Guatemala.
*As these numbers have risen, there has been a dramatic decline in apprehensions of Mexicans, both among children and adults. In 2000, 98% of those apprehended at the southern border were Mexican. Last year, just 42% were.
*For the first time last year, the U.S. received more asylum claims than any other country in the world, according to new UN data, with 43% coming from Central and North America. However, the U.S. only made decisions on one-fifth of those applications, leaving hundreds of thousands in limbo.

More at the link
https://www.axios.com/why-are-immigrants-coming-to-us-with-trump-zero-tolerance-ea01cb86-c4c0-4d8d-92d1-ae5cd6af6ec6.html

[Igel]

1. The population structure says more than anything else.

It accounts for much of the violence. It accounts for much of the immigration.

It accounted for the increase and decline of violence in the US.

It accounted for the surge in immigration from Mexico.

Tack on economic growth and the model's essentially complete.

[roamer65]

2. They flee a vicious, violent gang that was formed in the United States.

MS-13 originated in Los Angeles, out of Salvadoran refugees who fled our dirty war in Central America in the 1980’s. It’s blowback from the policies of Raygun.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-13

Yet again, another Repuke failure.