Unaccompanied minors from the Northern Central American countries in the migrant stream: social differentials and institutional contexts

ABSTRACT

The migration of minors unaccompanied by adults from the northern countries of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) to the United States has risen sharply in recent years, surpassing the numbers that migrated during the political conflicts in the region in the 1980s and early 1990s. While the migration of minors from the northern region of Central America may appear as a homogeneous flow, significant sociodemographic and regional differentials exist in their migration. A conceptual model of institutional conditions is presented to conceptualise how changing institutional conditions in communities of origin can produce ‘push’ effects for the unaccompanied migration of minors in the northern countries of Central America. The goal of the model is to conceptually advance the analysis of migration by the unaccompanied minors to the root level of structural change. US response to the migration of unaccompanied minors in the future is uncertain given that a new administration has taken charge of the Executive Branch, promising to further restrict unauthorised immigration at the southwest border.

KEYWORDS:

• Central American migration
• unaccompanied minors
• asylum seekers
• migration networks

Acknowledgements

The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers of this article for their comments and recommendations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the following two units of The University of Texas at Austin for research support: the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.