29,792 unaccompanied minors were encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the U.S.-Mexico border between July 2020 and February 2021.
26,850 of these immigrants were between the ages of 13 and 17.
2,942 were under the age of 12.
As the so-called “crisis at the border” continues and comprehensive immigration reform remains unlikely in the near future, let’s examine the root causes of the issue to better understand why so many people and children are fleeing their homes.
A Case Study: Poverty, Violence, and Education in Honduras
The unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S. from Honduras has more than tripled since 1990. This is due to the chronic violence, abject poverty, government corruption, and natural disasters the country has recently faced.
Honduras has the second highest poverty rate of Latin American and Carribean countries, only preceded by Haiti. 49 percent of the Honduran population lives on less than $5.50 USD a day. Essentially, half of the country’s population lacks the financial resources necessary to provide for themselves and their families, which is a motivating factor for many Hondurans to flee north in hopes of obtaining greater financial prosperity.
From 2005 to 2011, the homicide rate in Honduras was 18 times higher than that of the U.S. during the same time period. Despite the recent downward trend in the homicide and violence rates, an estimated 13 people are murdered every day in Honduras.
As a traditionally male-dominated society inundated with machismo culture, it is no surprise that women are at a disproportionately higher risk of experiencing gender-based violence. Honduras has the fifth-highest rate of violence against women in the world. Of the 800,000 Hondurans who fled their country in 2019, 470,000 were females.
In addition, there are approximately 266,037 orphaned children in Honduras in large part due to social exclusion and poverty – 17,000 of whom have been orphaned as a result of rampant femicides.
Honduras is one of the lowest performing countries in learning outcomes measures in the Latin American and Caribbean, with a youth literacy rate in the 20th percentile regionally. Compared to its regional counterparts, Honduras has a significantly higher cumulative drop-out rate at the primary school level. Despite compulsory education lasting from age five to 16, Hondurans attend school for four years on average, compared to the global mean of 12. Although education is free to the public, enrollment fees, school uniforms, and transportation costs prevent many Honduran children from receiving an education. On average, children among the highest income group attend school for twice as long as those in the lowest income group, further highlighting the socioeconomic inequities in Honduran education.
A Potential Solution: Educating Girls
The problems Hondurans face that cause them to emigrate are deep-rooted and longstanding – there is no simple fix. Nevertheless, one non-profit organization based in San Pedro Sula, Honduras has tried to end the cycle of poverty and violence by housing and educating young girls, encouraging them to become productive members of Honduran society.
Our Little Roses (OLR) is the only home for girls in a country of 266,037 orphans. Based in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, OLR brings in victims of orphanhood, abject poverty, neglect, abuse and provides them access to quality education and enrichment opportunities. Dr. Diana Frade founded OLR in 1988 after learning about the educational inequities in Honduras. When asking juvenile authorities in Tegucigalpa why there were no homes for girls in the country, they told her that abandoned and abused girls were sent to Women’s Penitentiary or to a reformatory to be cared for by female inmates.
The idea behind the organization is that, once the girls are given a support system, gain self-esteem, and become educated, they have an opportunity to thrive. Before arriving at OLR, many of the girls have no hope beyond a life of continuous poverty. By living at OLR, they are prepared to go into the world and become productive members of Honduran society. Education gives them a viable alternative to immigration.
When asked why she chose to open a home for girls rather than a co-ed home, Dr. Frade responded,
Because they will be the nurturers of their children and if we educate girls, provide them with the tools that they need to be successful in life, they will never go back to the abject poverty that they once came from. Not themselves and certainly not their children nor their children’s children. Generational change is what will happen, and it will provide future leaders for their country.
Dr. Diana Frade, 2018
Limitations: Scalability
OLR only affects a small part of San Pedro Sula by housing girls in the area and providing education not only to those living at the home but also to members of the neighboring communities. Even if there were a hundred homes for girls that operated like OLR in Honduras, they wouldn’t prevent undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied minors from coming to the U.S. More organizations modeled after OLR, however, would give more children the same viable alternative to immigration as the 75 girls living at OLR have been given.
Nevertheless, OLR highlights the importance of education. If everyone were given access to a quality education, it’s logical that there would be less of a need to resort to criminal activity or illegal immigration. The only way that the OLR model could be considered scalable is through educational investment on a macro level: an increase in national or international funding for education. While this is not a discussion on the pros and cons of international humanitarian aid, it seems rational that any government interested in lowering its undocumented immigration rates or treating the root causes of immigration, rather than putting a bandaid on a gaping wound, should consider investing in education.
When analyzing issues as large-scaled as immigration, poverty, and chronic violence, it seems impractical and almost naive to suggest a potential solution. But, perhaps, the number of unaccompanied minors arriving to the U.S. since July is 75 fewer because of OLR.
