MISSION, TX - JULY 24: Central American immigrants await transportation to a U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the Texas on July 24, 2014 near Mission, Texas. Tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of them families or unaccompanied minors, have crossed illegally into the United States this year and presented themselves to federal agents, causing a humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Rio Grande Sector of the border has the heaviest traffic of illegal crossings of the entire U.S.-Mexico border. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Refugees who were fleeing from violence, death threats and other issues in the Central America are an ongoing issue for the U. S. Government. The US has seen an increase in refugee numbers during the last spring and summer. We have seen an influx of children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador taking the very risky journey.
In recent months, the US government is looking at limiting the number of refugees entering the country. Also, instead of making the dangerous journey, the US is looking at a program to allow refugees to apply for status in the US without even leaving their own country. They call the program “in-country processing.” The government uses a similar process in Cuba, Iraq and few other countries. The proposal will not expand the number of refugees allowed per year per country. In 2014, the number of refugees from the Central America and the Caribbean will be limited to 5,000 and it will go down to 4,000 in 2015. Historically, most of the allocation went to Cuba with 4,200 allowed just in 2013 alone. There are 2,000 unallocated number of refugee visas that could go to any country or region.
