Central America and the root causes of migration to the US

Ask Americans why Central American immigrants are arriving at the southern U.S. border in ever-larger numbers, and some will say it’s lax border enforcement, disregard for the law and the temptations of U.S. jobs and generous welfare benefits.

Others, including the Biden administration and experts in the region, will point to what they call "root causes" of migration: entrenched corruption, grinding poverty, economic stagnation and fear of violence in the home countries that all but compel people to seek relief in the U.S.

It’s these conditions, they say, that explain...