Immigration to the United States from Central American countries known as the “Northern Triangle” has far outpaced immigration from Mexico in recent years, according to a new analysis by the Pew Research Center.
The number of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras jumped 25 percent between 2007 and 2015, while the number of Mexican immigrants fell by 6 percent during the same time period, the report found.
The Pew analysis includes both legal and undocumented immigrants, and it estimates more than half of immigrants from the Central American countries were undocumented in 2015.
Previous work by the Pew Research Center research suggests Central Americans were drawn to the U.S. by economic opportunity and to be with family. But Central Americans were also more likely than other Latinos to be fleeing violence or persecution.
