Migration to US is risky. Why do parents let their teens try it solo?
A 13-year-old Guatemalan was on his way to reunite with his father in the United States. A pair of 16-year-old cousins from Mexico were looking forward to steady work. Two young Hondurans promised their mother the journey would set them up to build her a home one day.
Instead, these youths – along with dozens of adults – perished in an abandoned, sweltering tractor-trailer in San Antonio last week, dubbed the deadliest human-smuggling incident in modern U.S. history.
The tragedy underscores the growing risks migrants face in trying to reach the U.S., but for many, it also raises a perennial question about unaccompanied minors: Why would a parent let their child go alone on such a life-threatening journey?
“For people in the U.S. – or wherever they are in the world – the question isn’t ‘How could you do that?’ but needs to be ‘What has to happen to you that you’re willing to give up everything?’” says about minors who migrate alone.
