Since October more than 57,000 unaccompanied children from Central American countries have been detained at the U.S.-Mexican border.
Recent numbers from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement said more than 30,000 of these children have been release to sponsors, typically a parent or relative, in the United States.
The report showed 221 kids have been released to sponsors in Colorado between Jan. 1 and July 7.
Fernando Riosmena, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who studies Latin American migrant and U.S. immigration policy, explained why the children mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala are making the dangerous journey to the U.S.
"All indications show that they are basically fleeing difficult, violent conditions in their places of origin, [and] to some extent poverty but its very much violence," Riosmena said. "Many of them are coming here to reunite with family members. They are not only coming here by the way they are moving within their countries of origin practically in Honduras there are a lot of internally displaced people and also people moving across other parts of Central America and into Mexico as well."
Riosmena said many of the children are fleeing from gang-related violence linked to drug tracking and other crimes.
Last week city of Denver official said they were considering applying for a three-year multi-million dollar grant through the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house some of the unaccompanied children.
President Obama has called the situation a “humanitarian crisis at the border.” He has asked Congress for nearly $4 billion dollars to respond the crisis. Congress only has a few more days to react to the President’s request before for it breaks for summer.
