Push factors like gang violence, poverty, and even climate change can drive immigrants to leave their home countries to seek a better life in the United States.
Millions of immigrants across Central America have sought asylum to escape increasing gun violence -- much of which comes at the hands of U.S.-trafficked and manufactured guns.
A new study from the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado examined how firearms affect migration and the role the U.S. plays in the firearm-related threats many immigrants report facing in their countries.
Researchers spoke with over 300 immigrants from Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean about their exposure to gun violence.
Lead author Eugenio Weigend Vargas, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan's Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, said there had not been a study that examined the proportion of immigrants threatened with firearms.
“There are various channels by which firearms can be trafficked to these countries, including sales with no background checks,” he said. “We wanted to see the impact that it had on other issues of the region.”
The study found that approximately 48% of immigrants reported being threatened with a firearm prior to coming to the U.S.
Hundreds of thousands of firearms that make their way to Mexico and other Latin American countries are purchased in the U.S.
Vargas said the flow of U.S. firearms has an impact that goes far beyond organized crime, including in public health and migration.
“Migration is often seen as a problem in the United States,” he said. “One way to address this is how do we reduce the flow of firearms from the U.S. to these countries so that people are not … scared to the point that they’re deciding to leave their home countries.