Drivers & Dangers of Displacement

By Brooke Pascarella

Displacement is defined as "the movement of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters" (IOM).

Drivers of Displacement

The majority of people who are arriving to the U.S. border to seek asylum are from three countries: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala — also known as the Northern Triangle. There are different causes of displacement in the Northern Triangle, but the main drivers include violence, socioeconomic insecurity, and environmental disasters.

Conflict / Gang Violence

The Northern Triangle is notorious for its gang violence and the countries are among the highest murder rates in the world. Many are at risk of extortion, gang recruitment, sexual violence and are left with little choice but to flee their homes to seek refuge. “Criminal gangs exert heavy territorial control in urban areas in Central America, where poverty is rampant. In these areas, murders are reported every day, while extortion puts every small business owner at risk in some neighborhoods. Girls and boys are at risk of recruitment, whereas women can experience intimidation and sexual violence as a means of control by gang members. Families under threat are coerced into abandoning their homes with no hope of return. Many flee their homes because of fear.” Quote Source

Socioeconomic Insecurity

“Nearly one in five Hondurans, Salvadorians and Guatemalans live on less than USD 1.90 a day. Most internally displaced people live in poverty and under continuous threat of violence and human rights violations. According to the World Bank, nearly 80 per cent of the population under the age of 15 in Honduras and El Salvador live in poverty.” Source: Quote Source Covid-19 has exacerbated the economic hardship as well as domestic violence, which has caused greater waves of migration.

Environmental Disasters

Natural disasters caused by increasing global temperatures have led to further displacement. Just last year, hurricanes Eta and Iota struck the region within three weeks of each other, leaving 3.4 million people in need of assistance, killing hundreds of thousands of livestock, and destroying small- and large-scale agricultural production. The region has also become hotter and dryer, leading to prolonged droughts and crop losses.

Quejá, Guatemala - Villagers returned to recover belongings and what was left of their harvest of coffee, cardamom and corn after a massive landslide destroyed their homes. Source: NYT

Dangers along migratory routes

While border crossings have always held some degree of danger, various U.S. immigration policies in the last few decades have exacerbated these border threats making it an even more unsafe environment for migrants. These policies to tighten the border began in the mid-nineties, became more intense after 9/11, and under the Trump administration, was draconian and cruel.

Harsh natural elements

Since 1994, a set of policies under the name "Prevention Through Deterrence" intentionally made the migratory route through the U.S./Mexico border more perilous by closing off sections near urban points of entry and forcing migrants to travel through less populous areas through the harsh desert, in an attempt to deter border crossings. Instead of deterrence the result was increasing death rates year after year. Many more have vanished in the rough terrain.

Backpacks left by migrants in the Sonoran Desert - “State of Exception/Estado de Excepción”, Parsons School of Design

Exploitation

By making the journey more treacherous, organized crime has flourished. A human smuggler, known as a coyote, can charge as much as $9,000 per person to guide families or groups of migrants across the border. Yet there are many who get left behind if they can't keep with the pace of the group or find themselves injured. There are no assurances that coyotes can be trusted as many of them work within or alongside criminal networks in the region. Women and unaccompanied children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation along migratory routes through violence and extortion. Amnesty International reported that two in three women traveling from Central America to the southwest border are sexually assaulted.

Two policies introduced under the Trump administration leave migrants at higher risk of exploitation. The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) — known as "Remain in Mexico" — changed the asylum application process. Instead of allowing asylum-seekers to wait in the U.S. while their case is pending, this policy forces them to wait in Mexico, often in border towns, where they are at high risk of kidnappings, extortion, and violence. Under the Trump administration, the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras were pressured into signing agreements with the U.S. to prevent migrants from arriving to the U.S./Mexico border by stipulating that they must first have applied for asylum in a "safe third country" in transit to the U.S. This is problematic for many reasons. The countries do not have the infrastructure to host large numbers of refugees. Furthermore, they are not considered "safe" as many who are fleeing come from these same countries.

One of the ways migrants have banded together to avoid the dangers along migratory routes is to form caravans, which can also save them from having to pay expensive fees for coyotes. These caravans have been the target of anti-immigration policy. Authorities in Mexico and Guatemala, pressured by the U.S., have intensified tactics to disperse and detain people in caravans and send them back to their home country.

Vado Hondo, Guatemala - Guatemalan security forces attempting to stop a Honduran caravan from passing north to the Mexican border. Source: NPR