American Dream for Many of Latin America's Migrants Is Just a Nightmare World Bulletin
go to original August 6, 2016

Central American immigrants surge north to the U.S. (CNN)

For many Latin Americans, the "American dream" refers to making the risky trip north to a new, safe and hopefully prosperous life in the United States.

But scores of Central Americans have died this year along the often dangerous trail to the United States.

In 2016 so far, 106 Hondurans have lost their lives trying to make their "American dream" happen. For all of last year, the figure was 200.

Thousands of Latin Americans - and migrants from as far away as Pakistan and Afghanistan - attempt the perilous journey through Central America, into Mexico and across the US border.

According to the government Committee for Returned Migrants in Honduras, between 60,000 and 100,000 Hondurans leave the country every year because of dire unemployment and violence. Many try for America, while others aim for nearby countries.

People-smugglers - known as "coyotes" - promise to get many of them past borders and other obstacles, for a price.

One coyote, a young man about 18 years old, was seen meeting a group of 12 Honduran emigrants getting off a bus on the border with Guatemala.

A soldier posted there told AFP that there were no grounds to stop the migrants crossing over if they had valid identity papers, as there was freedom of movement between the two countries.

That may not have been the case for the group led by the people-smuggler, who guided them along a dirt path through barbed wire to a field that was half in Honduras and half in Guatemala.

After walking a kilometer (half a mile), they came out near a corral where a couple of Guatemalans were loading cattle onto trucks.

Some in the group immediately headed to public transport, while others got on motorbikes driven by other people-smugglers.

The coyote who led them there said these crossings "bothered the police."

But the police seemed resigned to the constant flow through blind spots along the border.

"It's like this every day and we can't do anything about it," one officer said.

Read the rest at World Bulletin

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!