Fear Is Driving Young Men Across the U.S. Border

The day of his first kidnapping, Wander's life cleaved in two. Before it, he was a middle-class kid living in a humid, mountain-flanked Honduran city. Growing up, he had a live-in maid, attended private school, and enjoyed a modest but steady flow of new clothing and electronics. After graduating high school, he drove a bus for his mother's transportation company. Then, on the morning of June 12, 2009, when he was 19, a quartet of masked men approached his black Toyota Corolla, ordered him to exit, and shoved a pistol against his skull.

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In 2012, the Women's Refugee Commission, a research and advocacy group, conducted field studies to examine the causes of this unprecedented influx. Of the 151 young immigrants interviewed, nearly 80 percent said that violence was the main reason young people were fleeing their countries.

“It's push factors, not pull factors,” said Jennifer Podkul, a senior program officer at the Women's Refugee Commission. “These countries are losing a generation.”

Read the full article in The Atlantic.