The United States has sent nearly $100 million to violence prevention programs in Honduras, which have rapidly reduced homicides in pilot neighborhoods. The deescalating violence has made an impact in the States, which has seen less and less unaccompanied minors who flee the violence and enter the country as illegal immigrants.

Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite With His Mother 0812971787, says U.S.- funded violence reduction programs in Honduras have worked and should be expanded to other Central American countries.