The Deportation Death Sentence: An analysis of the United States’ role in perpetuating Human Rights abuses against should-be Honduran refugees

The past few years have been unprecedented in the United States, as a record-setting number of Latino immigrants crossed its southern border, including thousands of unaccompanied minors. Recognizing that many of these children were fleeing severe gang and cartel violence, the United Nations began advocating for the recognition of organized crime as a potential cause for refugee status. Children crossing the border are often in need of international protection, but it goes undocumented and underprovided. In this paper, I will analyze how the United States’ unwillingness to recognize certain children as refugees is perpetuating grave abuses in human rights for children fleeing gang and cartel violence with a specific focus on Honduras.