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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Debunking Myths About Flood of Central American Children

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Thursday, July 17, 2014   

RICHMOND, Va. – There are many questions surrounding why thousands of Central Americans are leaving their families, setting off alone and risking their lives in an attempt to migrate to the United States.

One woman who made that journey wants to shine a light on the issue.

Kenia Calderon was just 11 years old when her family fled El Salvador nine years ago, after she says their neighborhood was overrun by gangs, crime and a general feeling of despair.

"The violence was horrible,” she adds. “You just didn't feel safe, and gang members would kidnap girls and force them into their gangs and make them be sex slaves."

Calderon says the economic and political situations in many Central American countries have deteriorated because their economies have failed to produce jobs, fueling hopelessness and violence.

In El Salvador, police report so far this year, murders of children are up 77 percent. And a city in northwestern Honduras has the world's highest homicide rate.

Calderon rejects the notion that these children are being sent to the U.S. by their parents because they think some sort of window of lax border enforcement has opened up.

She says children subjected to rampant daily violence and horrific conditions are forced to grow up very quickly.

"They're the ones making the decision, and sometimes they just tell their family, 'I'm coming, be ready,' because they cannot wait for anything,” she explains. “They know that nothing's going to change that's going to better their lives."

Calderon says the record-high number of deportations under the Obama administration is well known in Central America, but many desperate youths still feel migration is their best hope.

She says children have been fleeing countries in Central America for several years, a fact well documented by groups such as the Pew Hispanic Trust.

"I feel like we all should be looking for another solution that will help these kids,” she says. “This is a cry for help. Something must be done, not because they want to win the next election, but because we are humans."

This story was made possible in part by the Voqal Fund.







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