Second Coming: Central American Migrant Wave Is Repeat of '80s

Central Americans are heading north again.In the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Nicaraguans fled civil wars and economic turmoil in their home countries, often finding a hostile reception in the United States.

Now, tens of thousands of women and children mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are making a treacherous trek to the United States to escape gang violence.

The reasons may be different, but today’s migrants face many of the same challenges as those who fled three decades ago. Graphics by Fusion Art Director Kent Hernández and Illustrator Victor Abarca:

Motivation Trumps Hardship

The New York Times: “Young Salvadorans Complain of Jailings in Mexico”