Central Americans, ‘Scared of What’s Happening’ in U.S., Stay Put
From February through May, the number of undocumented immigrants stopped or caught along the southwest border of the United States fell 60 percent from the same period last year, according to United States Customs and Border Protection — evidence
that far fewer migrants are heading north, officials on both sides of the border say.
The Mexican authorities recorded a 56 percent drop in the number of undocumented immigrants detained in their country — many of them presumably
on their way to the United States — in the first four months of the Trump administration, compared with the same period last year.
Marcos, a migrant smuggler based near San Pedro Sula, said
that last year he had taken one or two groups each month from Honduras to the United States border.
Many in the Central American countries known as the Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — appear to be doing just that.
That said, the two general populations of migrants — those principally fleeing poverty
and those principally fleeing violence — seem to be responding in different ways.
