Posted on February 11, 2016

Study: Migrants in Honduras Aren’t ‘Fleeing Violence’

Leo Hohmann, WND, February 10, 2016

President Obama has repeatedly said that migrants from Central America are fleeing the “horrors of violence” and should be treated as refugees.

{snip}

But according to a new report by a Jesuit-run research and social justice center in Honduras, the vast majority of people leaving this country do so primarily for economic reasons, not to flee violence.

The report by the Reflection, Research, and Communication Team (ERIC-SJ in Spanish), is based on a survey of public perceptions of the country’s social, political, and economic situation. The performance of the government of President Juan Orlando Hernandez is also taken into account.

The survey confirmed the economic crisis in Honduras as the engine that drives migration. Of the respondents that had a family member who had migrated in the last four years, 77.6 percent cited lack of a job and a search for better opportunities.

Comparatively, 16.9 percent migrated due to violence and insecurity. In comparison, the 2014 ERIC-SJ survey showed that 82.5 percent migrated for the former causes and 11 percent migrated for the latter.

“So while violence and insecurity have grown in importance among causes for migration, they continue to lag far behind economic factors as the primary cause,” wrote Kausha Luna in an analysis of the report for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C.

Luna also noted that the homicide rates in Honduras have been decreasing since 2012.

However, the Obama administration’s narrative insists that Central Americans are fleeing violence and as such should be welcomed into the United States with open arms as ‘refugees.’ This narrative ignores the economy as the primary push factor for migration, as well as the pull of incentives created by the Obama administration in its refusal to enforce immigration laws.

{snip}