Hispanic Migrants: Back to Square One | Talk to Al Jazeera

El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala form what is known as Central America's "Northern Triangle". The region is overrun by organised crime and gangs, resulting from violent civil wars that rocked the three countries in the 1980s.

According to a report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 137,000 people from the Northern Triangle entered the US last year, up until June alone. Figures show that hundreds of thousands of men, women and children continue to try and flee poverty and violence in an attempt to reach the United States at any price.

Contrary to claims made by the Trump administration, the number of undocumented migrants from Mexico has fallen in the last few years. However, it is the Central Americans who are increasingly attempting to cross the border, especially from El Salvador.

El Salvador has the highest murder rate in the world, and according to the 2016 El Salvador Crime and Safety Report conducted by the US Overseas Security Advisory Council, almost one quarter of all Salvadorans were victims of crime in 2015. Salvadorans travel by land across Guatemala into Mexico - arguably the most dangerous part of the journey - where countless migrants are robbed, kidnapped, raped and/or killed by Mexican criminal gangs that control the route.

Since President Donald Trump renewed his vow to build an impenetrable wall to keep undocumented migrants out, traffickers - commonly known as "coyotes" - have raised their fees, trying to cash in on desperation to reach the land of the American dream before its too late.

In 2014 President Barack Obama approved a special refugee reunification program to discourage tens of thousands of Central American children from risking their lives to join undocumented parents in the US. The program was set to give these children refugee status - the Trump administration has since stopped the scheme in its tracks, raising concerns of a new wave of unaccompanied minors trying to reach the border.

Talk to Al Jazeera travels to El Salvador to see what is driving the migration wave and at what price.

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