To listen to the entire segment, “Central American Migrant Crisis Intensifies,” click this link: http://www.kcrw.com/people/elizabeth-kennedy.

To read the entire Los Angeles Times article by Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “More Central Americans fleeing violence to enter U.S., sugesting another major surge,” click this link: http://www.latimes.com/nation/immigration/la-na-border-stats-20151114-story.html.

“During the first 10 months of this year, El Salvador reported nearly 5,500 homicides, according to a congressional report last month. That’s more than any other country not at war, according to Elizabeth Kennedy, a San Diego State University social scientist who has worked with migrants.

By the end of this year, the homicide rate in El Salvador — a country of 6.5 million people — may exceed 90 per 100,000, a level of violence, including massacres and killings of police, not seen since the country’s bloody 12-year civil war that ended in 1992.

Kennedy said conditions also remain poor in Guatemala and Honduras — two other originators of illegal migration to the U.S. — but El Salvador is worse.

…

“We’re seeing more and more indications that this is a refugee crisis, and it needs to be treated as such,” said Kennedy, who interviewed immigrant women, mostly mothers, for a new United Nations report released last month that documented a thirteenfold increase in asylum seekers within Mexico and Central America since 2008, and a nearly fivefold jump in the U.S.”

On “To The Point” with Warren Olney on 9 November, entitled “Is the US Breaking a Promise to Children at Risk?” Here’s the site’s description:

Tens of thousands of children face murderous street gangs, extortion and sexual violence in Central America. For those whose parents are legally in this country, President Obama pledged “an orderly alternative” to the terrifying journey through Mexico. But until they pass laborious screening, including DNA testing, they have to stay where they are — whatever the dangers might be. It’s been a year since the President promised escape. Some 5400 kids have applied, but only 90 kids have even been interviewed. None has been admitted to the United States.

Guests:
Lavinia Limón, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (@USCRIdc)
Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch (@BillFrelick)
Michael D. Shear, New York Times (@shearm)
Elizabeth G. Kennedy, researcher and social scientist (@EGKennedySD)

Listen to the full audio here: http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/to-the-point/red-tape-slows-help-for-kids-in-danger-in-central-america/is-the-us-breaking-a-promise-to-children-at-risk

More:
Central American Minors (CAM) program
Shear on the red tape that slows help for children fleeing Central America

Here’s a brief summary I’ve created about the CAM program from my own reading of English- and Spanish-language news articles recently published:

The program has only interviewed 90 (76 Salvadorans, 14 Hondurans and no Guatemalans) of the more than 5,400 applicants. Ten of the Salvadorans were granted refugee status, but none have yet arrived to the United States. The first are expected to arrive in the next two weeks, according to the Department of State’s PRM. Sixty-five other Salvadorans were recommended for the two-year humanitarian parole, and one was rejected. Among Hondurans, none were granted refugee status. Thirteen were recommended for humanitarian parole, and one was rejected. There are plans for 420 more of the applicants to be interviewed before the end of 2015.