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Honduras had a homicide rate of 40 per 100,000 people in 2017, while Guatemala saw 22.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to Insight Crime, among the highest in Western Hemisphere. By comparison a study of crime and murder in 30 of the largest US cities, found that Baltimore had a homicide rate at 43.8 per 100,000 people.
“Climate change models indicate that rain will continue to decrease so we can expect the situation to only get worse,” Castellanos told BuzzFeed News. “If we don't implement risk systems and save water for farmers there will be more instability and they will have more reasons to migrate.” Stephanie Leutert, director of the Mexico Security Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, said smugglers are charging families with children less than individuals attempting to get into the US undetected.
Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, said smugglers are telling people in Central America the time to leave is now, before the Trump administration makes another attempt to make it more difficult to get into the US. It's human nature to want to be with your loved ones, Alvarado said. And many of these families are choosing to follow relatives in the United States as opposed to fleeing to other parts of Latin America, where they have limited family networks and fewer job prospects.
Record LOW number are at the border. Illegal border crossing is at a twenty year low.