Immigration News: US Child Migrants Are Fleeing Gangs In Central America, NYT Reports

Immigration is once again at the centre of Washington's debate, with the influx of undocumented child migrants at the US border reaching crisis proportions. However, the New York Times today revealed where the real humanitarian crisis lies: in the Central American nations where these children are setting off on the hazardous journey to the USA. A report today reveals that a number of children are facing increasing gang violence and have no option but to flee in fear of their lives to the relative safety of the United States.

Latin America as a whole is the most dangerous region of the world: as Insider points out, "Despite having around 9% of the world's population, the region is home to 28% of the world's murders, according to the United Nations." The most dangerous city in the world is San Pedro Sula, Honduras which in 2013 had 169.30 homicides per 100,000 residents. This has impacted its youngest residents severely: according to the Times, children as young as 7 face torture and murder due to gang warfare.

The murder rate of children has been particularly bad. According to study from the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, in 2012 there were 81 murders of kids aged 10 to 14 double that of 2008. Of the murders that occurred in 2013, 1,013 were under 23. "Honduran children," says the report "are increasingly on the front lines of gang violence. In June, 32 children were murdered in Honduras, bringing the number of youths under 18 killed since January of last year to 409, according to data compiled by Covenant House, a youth shelter in Tegucigalpa."