Earlier this month, Pew Research Center published two posts about two migration crises that have become a regular part of the news cycle: the one originating from Central America and the one currently happening in Europe. Here is a top-line summary of their findings:
Central America
According to Pew (click here for the full report), there has been a surge of border apprehensions of both families and unaccompanied children since 2014, although in 2016, more families (children and adults traveling with them) were apprehended at the border than unaccompanied children.
Pew also examined the country of origin of the individuals apprehended at the border. The overwhelming number of apprehensions (90%) involved people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Pew also noted that “U.S. government officials have started to prepare for a possible increase in migration from Central America this summer.”
Europe
Another post by Pew (full story here) offers more specific information about unaccompanied children migrating to Europe with the hopes of seeking asylum. A record 96,000 unaccompanied children entered Europe in 2o15. According to Pew, “the 2015 total alone accounts for nearly half (48%) of unaccompanied minors that have entered Europe since 2008.” About half of those unaccompanied children from 2015 were from Afghanistan.
Pew also made some comparisons between the European crisis and the Central American one:
In both the U.S. and Europe, the great majority of unaccompanied minors are teenage boys. In 2015, about three-fourths of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Europe were males ages 14 to 17. In the U.S., about three-fourths of unaccompanied minors apprehended at U.S. borders were also teenage boys of the same age in fiscal 2015.