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Obama Administration Plans Raids To Deport Central American Families

A one-year-old from El Salvador clings to his mother after she turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents on December 7 near Rio Grande City, Texas. The mother said she brought her son on the 24-day journey from El Salvador to escape violence in the Central American country. (John Moore/Getty Images)
A one-year-old from El Salvador clings to his mother after she turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents on December 7 near Rio Grande City, Texas. The mother said she brought her son on the 24-day journey from El Salvador to escape violence in the Central American country. (John Moore/Getty Images)

The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to carry out raids to deport hundreds of Central American families who came to the U.S. beginning last year.

The Central American migration crisis drew headlines in 2014 when each month as many as 10,000 unaccompanied minors, and 16,000 adults with children, traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border, in an effort to escape extreme poverty and high rates of gang violence in their native countries. The proposed deportation operation, first reported by the Washington Post, would be the first large-scale effort to deport Central American families.

Washington Post reporter Jerry Markon broke the story. He tells Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti why the Department of Homeland Security is planning to make this move.

Guest

  • Jerry Markon, Washington Post reporter covering the Department of Homeland Security. He tweets @JerryMarkon.

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