Someone please help me understand

[sunnystarr]

I've read how the influx of children from Central America is due to the violence caused by drugs and gangs. I was also under the impression that the majority of people in that region are poor. Yet I read that:

A smuggler charges $8,000 to guide two children to the border, but then asks for $7,000 more to escort them across, for a total of $15,000.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/21/us/central-american-family-agony-child-border-crossings/

Where are all those families getting that kind of money? I know throughout most of my life I wouldn't have been able to come up with it. What am I missing?

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. What are you missing? ...

Perhaps that the parents of these children will do desperate things to get the money to give their children a shot at life, let alone a better one.

[upaloopa]

2. The article states that she didn't have the money

so relied on family members. My guess is most families don't have the money so the don't use smugglers.

[itsrobert]

3. No, the children are told/taught to tell ICE/Border Patrol that

It's their ticket to stay in the country.

Some are really subjected to violence/gangs/drug cartel etc. But most are trying to take advantage of the law Bush signed in 2008.

[jehop61]

4. Excuse me, but....

you know this for a fact how?

[itsrobert]

5. Yes

It's a fact.

[FSogol]

6. From family members in the US who work 2-3 jobs and send money home. n/t

[sunnystarr]

8. I see what you're saying ...

but that just makes another question pop up ... how is it possible that so many of these family members in the US are able to come up with the required amount at the same time? It's not like any of these jobs are paying the big bucks and they still have to live and eat. So what happened recently to coordinate this massive influx and the money to pay for it?

[redqueen]

9. All they do is work, and work hard. Often two jobs.

They live in crammed into very cheap apartments so they can save on housing expenses.

The jobs don't pay big bucks, but there are no mobile phones, no internet, no cable bills, no car payments.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. I regularly work with undocumented workers.

The workers I know are primarily men, oftentimes many from the same family, who have come here to work. They work, generally multiple jobs to start, and often room together in a single cheap studio apartment. They have no credit card debt, no mortgages, no car payments. Everything but their basic living needs goes back home. It wouldn't take the average worker I know very long at all to raise the funds needed to bring a family member here.

[bigtree]

11. +1

[Xyzse]

12. You'd be surprised how much money people send back as remittance back to their own country.

Even if they don't pay big bucks, within a few years they can get to that amount when you add multiple revenue streams.

Many immigrants do it this way:

-House themselves in relatives or friends for cheap
-Cook their own food
-Do not have credit cards or sometimes even banks so that they don't get punished by fees.
-Have two or more small jobs to support themselves.

They tend to have a goal and stick with it in regards to bringing their family together.

All of that adds up. It is money that they don't see as it is sent out immediately, so they are not as tempted by impulsive purchases.

[FSogol]

13. Have you ever met immigrant families? They live 12-15 in a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment.

They work several jobs and spend nothing on luxury items or entertainment. They send all the money home to help their elderly parents or siblings/children left behind. Some work 18 hours a day 6-7 days a week at a mixture of jobs. They walk, ride bikes, take the bus or drive the cheapest most disposal cars.

How can they save up? By working hard and saving their money. Americans/Westerners have strange ideas about necessities such as $200 cable bills, luxury cars, $5 daily coffees, cell phones, bottled water, unused gym memberships, high speed internet, apps, etc.

I agree that something caused this to happen at this moment (right before the midterms), but have seen no reporting on what caused it.

[840high]

7. Interesting question.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Obviously, they had their chauffeurs sell their limousines at the border.

Or, if near the ocean, their yachts.

Of course, they mean to make it all back when they are given employment as corporate CEOs when they arrive in America.

[bigtree]

15. story yesterday about the people we're returning to Honduras and elsewhere

. . . returning to their home countries empty handed and unable to pay the fee they owe the 'smugglers'.

[Hamlette]

16. Iheard a similar comment on the teevee

the smugglers do it on credit telling the kid and the family if they don't return the funds once they get to America the smuggler will kill the family left behind.

[sunnystarr]

17. Well that makes sense ...

The smugglers have offered credit to take the kids to the border. Now wouldn't that be THE most important factor in demonstrating that we can't deport the kids? Wouldn't our country then be responsible for sending them back to die?

I just knew there had to be another factor at work here. Something that had changed that allowed for this mass exodus now. Honestly I wondered if it wasn't political.