Many undocumented immigrants who appear at the southern border may be fleeing gun violence perpetrated with weapons that originally came from the U.S. New research shows that nearly half coming across the border had previously been threatened by guns' the vast majority of guns in some of those countries originated in the U.S., reports the Ohio Capital Journal. A report by researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado published in the journal Injury Prevention sought to gain insights into the role the U.S. gun trade might be playing in migrants’ decisions to make the hazardous journey to the southern border. “Policy-makers have argued that U.S. firearms are fueling violence in these countries and are contributing to migration,” the report said.
A 2015 survey of migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador by Doctors Without Borders found that “of those interviewed, almost 40% mentioned direct attacks or threats to themselves or their families, extortion or gang-forced recruitment as the main reason for fleeing their countries.” Data from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms indicate that of the 21,000 firearms recovered in Mexico between 2016 and 2022, nearly 70% had either been made or imported into the U.S. Researchers interviewed 312 people seeking asylum between March 2022 and August 2023 at a shelter in McAllen, Tex. Nearly half reported having been threatened with a firearm. That’s more than double the 21% of Americans who reported having been so threatened. The actual percentage of asylum seekers who have had guns pointed at them is likely higher because nearly 80% of respondents to the survey were women, while 66% of the men who participated said they had been threatened in that way. That compares to 39% of women respondents. The researchers recommended that immigration officials consider the circumstances of immigrants’ gun threats and their effects as they make policy.
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