What it’s like for kids to understand that some of their friends live in the US “without papers”? A Seattle boy named Ronan found out when his best friend told him that he was in the United States without legal status.
Governments in Central American countries like El Salvador anticipate a big flood of migrants returning from the United States after being detained. But those migrants are coming back to the same depressed, and sometimes violent, conditions that forced them to leave in the first place.
"Operation Streamline" is the federal government's program to fast-track immigration cases. It's certainly made it easier to prosecute migrants — or put them in jail. But critics say everything else about the program seems confused.
Over the past year, the US Border Patrol has apprehended tens of thousands of Central American children crossing the US-Mexico border alone. So why are kids from Nicaragua, the region’s poorest country, staying at home?
The World's Jason Margolis got a rare tour of the detention facilities in McAllen, Texas, that houses unaccompanied migrant children and families from Central America. There's been a recent surge of such migrants this year, stretching the border's immigration centers to the limit.
Texas Governor Rick Perry announced the deployment of National Guard troops to the border, saying a surge of undocumented immigrants has boosted crime. But analysts disagree with why Perry made the decision — and they don't think the troops will help.
At first, there were isolated protests in border states like California and Arizona over relocating migrant children to detention centers while they awaited immigration proceedings. This weekend, anger and protests spread across the US, reaching New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota and even Alaska.
A catchy song is getting plenty of play on Central American airwaves, but not everyone knows it was funded by the US government.
The crisis along the border over the surging number of unaccompanied minors coming to the US played out in an Arizona town Tuesday. A rumor spread that federal officials were sending some of the young migrants to a camp for at-risk youth in Oracle — and soon protesters on both sides turned out. But the migrants never arrived.
Some Americans blame President Obama for the flood of Central American children who have crossed into the US this year. They believe his policy sends a message of leniency that is attracting them. But a reporter who just returned from Guatemala and El Salvador says most are simply fleeing violence, and don't have any clue about US policy.
The situation on the southern border is serious, with thousands of child migrants streaming across the border each month. Republicans and Democrats are blaming each other for the problem — but they're also signaling they might be willing to make a deal.