Have climate factors in Central America increased pressure to emigrate to the US?
By Esther Honig
Copy link
Copy featured image
YES
Research indicates a strong correlation between climate shifts and pressure on Central Americans to emigrate, notably from the region known as the Dry Corridor spanning El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. A study conducted by the United Nations and other development organizations cites the impact of a drought associated with El Niño in 2014, which increased already high levels of both food and employment insecurity.
Between 2010 and 2015, the number of migrants from the three countries apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border (an indicator of the total number attempting to enter the country) increased fivefold. The number of unaccompanied children apprehended nearly doubled in the following year, coinciding with the drought.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
