By Timothy Kane via Defining Ideas
Tim Kane argues that “push” factors such as poverty, famine, and gang violence can’t completely explain the border crisis, because data indicate that today’s Central American migrants are largely fleeing countries that have experienced relative economic growth, declining homicide rates, and a reduction in poverty in recent years. Kane maintains that, alternatively, “pull” factors, such as deportation waivers and sanctuary laws over the last decade, have been powerful incentives for asylum seekers and are likely responsible for a surge of Central American migration to the United States.