2014 American immigration crisis

Chart illustrating the number of people apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol on the U.S.–Mexican border who are, and are not Mexican nationals, from 2000 to 2017. Non-Mexicans arriving on the border are overwhelmingly Central American nationals.

The 2014 American immigration crisis was a surge in unaccompanied children and women from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) seeking entrance to the United States in 2014. According to U.S. law, an unaccompanied alien child refers to a person under 18 years of age, who has no lawful immigration status in the U.S., and who does not have a legal guardian to provide physical custody and care.[1]

Between 2013 and 2014, the number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border increased nearly 80%, from 38,759 in fiscal year 2013 to 68,541 in fiscal year 2014.[2] This influx in unaccompanied minor children has been attributed to a number of factors including the high rates of gang-related violent crime in the Northern Triangle;[3][4] the promulgation of false "permiso" rumors by smugglers;[5][6][7] a growing awareness of H.R.7311 (110th), a 2008 law that granted substantial protections from removal to unaccompanied children from countries that do not share a border with the US;[8][9][10] and a recovering U.S. economy and labor market following the Great Recession.[11] Many of the children had no parent/legal guardian available to provide care or physical custody and quickly overwhelmed local border patrols.[12]

  1. ^ "unaccompanied alien child". law.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  2. ^ Robertson, Lori (2018-06-28). "Illegal Immigration Statistics". Fact Check. factcheck.org. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  3. ^ Lind, Dara (2014-09-19). "The child migrant crisis seems to be over. What happened?". Vox.
  4. ^ Clemens, Michael A. (2021-05-12). "Violence, Development, and Migration Waves: Evidence from Central American child migrant apprehensions". Journal of Urban Economics. 124: 103355. doi:10.1016/j.jue.2021.103355. hdl:10419/170912. ISSN 0094-1190. S2CID 236564697.
  5. ^ Greenblatt, Alan (9 July 2014). "What's Causing The Latest Immigration Crisis? A Brief Explainer". NPR.org.
  6. ^ "Overcrowded, unsanitary conditions seen at immigrant detention centers". LA Times. June 18, 2014.
  7. ^ "Under-age and on the move". The Economist. June 26, 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  8. ^ Hulse, Carl (July 7, 2014). "Immigrant Surge Rooted in Law to Curb Child Trafficking". New York Times.
  9. ^ "THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN IN THE IMMIGRATION PROCESS" (PDF). ACLU.
  10. ^ Cohen, Tom (July 16, 2014). "Unintended consequences: 2008 anti-trafficking law contributes to border crisis". CNN.
  11. ^ Warren, Robert. "Surge in Immigration in 2014 and 2015? The Evidence Remains Illusory". Center for Migration Studies.
  12. ^ 6 U.S.C. § 279(g)(2)