U.S. legislation meant to help children escape violence and corruption in Central America is only hampering their efforts to find safety. As gang warfare escalates, the number of children trying to cross the southern U.S. border through Mexico has hit an all-time high, but none of these child immigrants have been granted access.

The U.S.’s most recent program for Central America minors (CAM) has been created to help child immigrants in the violent “Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador whose parents are legally residing in the U.S. Its goal is to help aid in the perilous passage through Mexico to the U.S. border.

However, Mexico has not been one to cooperate, deporting 10,000 child immigrants from October 2014 to March 2015. Mexico’s policies for processing and granting asylum to children are also slow and insufficient for the influx of kids seeking shelter in the U.S. As a result, half the number of Central American children reached the U.S. in 2015 as did in 2014. In 2014 alone, 68,000 children were apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico. Although over 2,000 kids have applied for the CAM program, not a single one has been granted access to the States. There are a number of reasons for this lack of implementation.

For one, extensive paperwork is required for each child, including DNA testing of both parents, birth certificates, medical and security checks, and proof of legal immigration to America on behalf of the parents. The refugee organizations running the CAM program refuse to set up interviews with parents to help them reunite with their child immigrants and many parents are afraid to attract media attention to the issue for fear there will be retaliation against their kids.

As kids are forced to stay in their violent homelands, the fighting has only grown worse. In El Salvador, more people were killed in May (an average of 20 a day) than in any month since 1992. Honduras has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and Guatemala is experiencing violence from two gangs with links to international organized crime organizations. Children are often the subjects of violence because they are witnesses to murders or other crimes. They are recruited to gangs as young as 8, but shelters do not accept victims of domestic abuse under the age of 12. Children under threat of such violence don’t have time for excessive paperwork or waiting times.

Critics say one flaw of the CAM program is that it is a reunification, not protection program. Therefore, families who are being targeted by gangs can not seek help. Congressional relief packages, including a US$1 billion aid package proposed by Obama to improve economic status, infrastructure, and security in the “Northern Triangle” countries, is likely to pass anytime soon. In the meantime, people in these countries-particularly children- will be waiting, in fear of violence and hope of freedom.

– Jenny Wheeler

Sources: State, Irin News
Photo: Wilson Center