Central American migrant caravans

Central American migrant caravans,^[1] also known as the Viacrucis del migrante ("Migrant's Way of the Cross"),^[2][3][4] are migrant caravans that travel from Central America to the Mexico–United States border to demand asylum in the United States. The largest and best known of these were organized by Pueblo Sin Fronteras (A People Without Borders) that set off during Holy Week in early 2017 and 2018 from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA), but such caravans of migrants began arriving several years earlier, and other unrelated caravans continued to arrive into late 2018.

There is some disagreement as to whether the migrant caravans are primarily composed of refugees seeking asylum or are merely large concentrations of traditional economic migrants. Numerous human rights organizations document the increase in violence and abuse in recent years in Central American countries.^[5][6][7][8] A report by the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development, cited by Amnesty International, noted that between 2007 and 2012, several Central American countries had the highest average annual female homicide rates in the world, although the average annual male homicide rates in the world are higher.^[9][10] Other studies of the composition of the caravans indicated that the caravans more resemble traditional economic migrants.^[11] The causes of the migration, as well as the proper way to settle or deport the migrants themselves, remains a source of political debate within the U.S.