Sexual violence is often cited as a high risk for migrants journeying from Central America to the U.S. Media accounts and reports by advocacy groups suggest the problem has been persistent for more than a decade. Statistics are spotty, and predate the surges in migration in 2019 and 2021.
Doctors Without Borders in 2017 reported that it treated 166 people for “sexual violence” in 2015 and 2016. It also surveyed 467 migrants and refugees at its facilities in Mexico, finding that nearly one-third of the women “had been sexually abused during their journey.”
In a 2015 study of Central American women migrants, the U.N. noted that many of the women, fleeing violence at home to travel north, risked more violence on their journey. “Several” women interviewed said they took contraceptives before traveling as they worried about the consequences of rape.