Voices: Why deportations won't stop the border deluge

REYNOSA, Mexico – It took Brian Soler Redondo seven months to get from his home in Comayagua, Honduras, to this city on Mexico's northern border with Texas.

Along the way, the 14-year-old hitchhiked, walked for miles, dodged thunderstorms, jumped from a moving train to avoid roving gangs, had his money stolen by unscrupulous border police, witnessed a pregnant woman thrown under a train and killed, begged for bus fare, and felt more hunger, thirst, fear and fatigue than most people feel in a lifetime…. 

Sending so many back has done little to discourage the steady flow of migrants, many of whom are fleeing rampant violence or economic despair in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The threat of being deported from the U.S. pales in comparison to a looming gang kidnapping or the prospect of another day without dinner.

“You can close the door of a burning house, but people are just going to jump out the window,” says Michelle Brané of the Women's Refugee Commission. 

Read the article in USA Today.