1. Read and annotate—mark confusion, questions, surprises.
  2. Circle Vocab
  3. Write a 1 paragraph response to answer each of the following questions (total 3 paragraphs)
  4. Why do child migrants come to the US?
  5. What difficulties do they face?
  6. If you were in their place, would you risk the dangerous journey to the US? Why or why not?

Child migrants to U.S. try to escapeCentral American turmoil

ByMcClatchy Foreign Staff, adapted by Newsela staff 06.18.14

ARRIAGA, Mexico — Earlier this month, Wilson Coxaj, 16, left his village inGuatemala’s highlands and began making his way to the United States. It is adangerous journey.

If he’s successful, he’ll join what U.S. officials are calling “the surge. This is thedramatic increase inchild migrantsflooding across the U.S. border by themselves. It iscreating what President Barack Obama has called an “urgent humanitarian situation.”

Coxaj has the short stature and thick black hair of his Mayan ancestry. He spoke withthe determination of someone needing to provide urgent help for his single mother and younger brother.

“I am not with a coyote,” he said, referring to the paid human guides who bring somemigrants northward. “I’m just trying to guide myself through instinct.”

A Flood Of Children

Children from the northern part of Central America and from Mexico are flooding into the United States. Between Oct. 1, 2013, and May 31, the total number reached 40,017, the Department of Homeland Security says. The unaccompanied minors havecrammed into Border Patrol stations and forced U.S. officials to set up temporary housing for them at military bases in Texas, Oklahoma and California.

Nearly all the child migrants are crossing the border at the southernmost tip of Texas, U.S. officials say. This means that they are forced to travel through Mexico’s lawlessTamaulipas state. The only likely way for them to do so is to travel with coyotesworking with crime groups.

Republican lawmakers have blamed Obama for the problem. They say that laxenforcement of immigration laws and the possibility of residency is drawing migrants from Central America. In particular, children are looking to be reunited with a parentalready in the United States. Proposed immigration reform would permit some people, who came to the U.S. illegally, to stay here legally.But visits to shelters in Mexico show that the reason behind the flood of youngmigrants is more subtle. They are driven to cross the border not so much by U.S.policies as by the turmoil in Central America.

"The Only Option"

Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have some of the world’s highest murder rates.Many youths who refuse to join street gangs must flee.

"The Mara Salvatrucha dominates the streets, and they wanted me to join them to selldrugs,” said William Alberto Molina. The Mara Salvatrucha isa dangerous gang inCentral America.

Molina left San Salvador last year at age 17. “The only optionis to leave the country or join the rival gang.”

“Violence in Central America is pushing these kids out,” saidWendy Young. She is the executive director of Kids in Need of Defense, a Washington, D.C., group that provideslegal help for the immigrant children.

Young said that younger children are crossing the border on their own. “There are a lot more kids under age 12, and the percentage of girls has risenfrom 25 percent to 40percent,” she said.

“I think the goals these kids have are safety and reunifying with family," said Elizabeth Frankel. She is a law professor and associate director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights at the University of Chicago.

The largest factor was likely the “incredible increase in violence and threats posed bygangs,” she said.

Traveling In Groups

The Rev. Alejandro Solalinde is a Catholic priest who is perhaps Mexico’s best known advocate for migrants. He said that when teens take off fromCentral America, they “band together with others from their hometowns. Nobody protects them.”

But a diplomat from Central America said many of the child migrants travel in groupsand avoid shelters.

He said few minors are like Wilson Coxaj, the 16-year-old whowas literally alone on his journey. Most are in groups under the control of an adult.

“These kids aren’t alone. They go accompanied by someone,”he said.

For his part, Coxaj said he wants to find work in the United States to send money backto his single mother and little brother. He doesn't know where he will go and knows thenames of only two cities — New York City and Los Angeles. Yet he was confident that he’ll findabetter job than he could at home.

“For a factory job(inGuatemala), you need school certificates,” he said. “I only completed second grade, so it’s difficult for metogetthosejobs.”