Editorial: Expanded program for Central American minors could help refugee crisis

Since the first surge, two years ago, of unaccompanied minors and mothers with children fleeing violence in Central America, the Obama administration has struggled to find ways to dissuade people from taking the dangerous overland journey through Mexico to cross the border illegally in Texas.

It disseminated information in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador about the hazards of such a trip. It persuaded Mexico to beef up enforcement at its own southern border. And it launched the Central American Minors program, through which parents from Northern Triangle countries who are lawfully in the U.S. could win permission for their at-risk children (under age 21) to come to this country legally, without risking their lives on a perilous trek through the hot desert to the border.

Central American Minors

As a result, the surge slowed last year but then ramped back up this summer in part because of the amount of time — about eight months — it takes to process applications, which includes DNA testing paid for by the families. Parents with children facing grave threats from street gangs apparently decided they couldn’t wait, and again turned to coyotes to smuggle the kids north.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration acknowledged that the system created “an insufficient pathway” for those fleeing danger and said it will expand the eligibility pool so that children who seek to come to the United States may also bring their siblings older than 21, parents and other relatives who act as caregivers. The government also will establish referral programs in the home countries to process refugee applications and will work with international refugee agencies to temporarily house up to 200 endangered people at a time in Costa Rica while the vetting takes place. The announcements came just days after the U.S. and Mexican governments pledged to work together to expand that country’s asylum-granting system.

These are largely prudent, humanitarian moves that some refugee advocates say reflect a fuller recognition by the Obama administration of the need for more capacity in dealing with a thorny refugee crisis. Granted, the scope of the problem pales in comparison with some of the wars and other crises that have displaced an astounding 65 million people worldwide, but uncontrolled street violence tied to gangs (many with U.S. roots) has made the Northern Triangle exceedingly dangerous, especially for young men targeted by gangs and young women at risk of sexual violence. Adults face extortion demands with murder and rape as the enforcement mechanisms.

Last year, El Salvador – the most violent of the three countries, and among the most violent nations in the world – endured nearly 6,700 homicides, which translates to a rate of about 116 per 100,000 people (the U.S. rate is 4.5 per 100,000), and a 70% increase over 2014. Salvadoran gangs that formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s then returned home account for most of the carnage.

It might be tempting for some Americans to shrug and say that it’s up to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to resolve their own issues, but the problem affects a wider region, including the main destination country, the United States. So it makes sense for the solution to be regional. The U.S budgeted $750 million this year for programs aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods and improving governance and accountability in the countries, where corruption is rampant. Measures have been introduced by Democrats in the House and the Senate that would authorize an additional $1 billion in related spending next year, but the fate of that effort is uncertain.

The deterioration of conditions in the Northern Triangle developed over a long period of time, and enacting solutions will neither be swift nor easy. But working with other nations in the region and with international refugee organizations are prudent steps in trying to fix the problem where it is occurring, instead of just waiting to catch refugees at the U.S. border.