Immigration Crisis: Photographing the Violence Behind the Honduras Exodus

3 minute read

As President Barack Obama is considering offering refugee status to thousands of Honduran child migrants, photographer Ross McDonnell travelled to the Central American country on assignment for TIME to document the growing humanitarian crisis that has forced thousands of people to seek a better life in the U.S.

“To try to understand life in Honduras is to begin to understand the vast exodus from that country and the population’s strong desire to migrate North,” McDonnell tells TIME. This exodus is not only fed by a desire to find refuge with family members who successfully made it to the U.S., but also by a desire “to escape poverty, unemployment and the effects of lawlessness that pervades in Honduras,” the Irish photographer adds. “It is the desire for a better life.”

McDonnell visited Honduras’ second largest city, San Pedro Sula, also known as the “Murder Capital of the World”. “San Pedro Sula and other parts of the country are seemingly locked in a downward spiral, driven by an impunity towards violent crime and a culture where human life has ceased to be valued,” McDonnell explains. “The blame for this level of violence is laid at the feet of two warring groups of ‘Maras’, the Mara Salvatrucha and the M18, both gangs that began life among Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles, California and have now come to dominate swathes of Central American barrios.”

While McDonnell encountered Honduran immigrants who had lived a tranquil life and were just “following the well-trodden path North,” others spoke of unimaginable heartbreaks — “victims of relentless extortion, individuals forced from their homes by gangs, lives touched by crimes that would make national news were they to happen in our comfortable suburbs,” he tells TIME. “One young man I met had been robbed at gunpoint on his way to the bus station as he was leaving the country.”

For many Hondurans, the prospect of gaining refugee status in the U.S. is the only solution to a growing humanitarian crisis. “The $3.7 billion aid package that has been [proposed by President Obama] is often met with skepticism by those Hondurans who have made up their minds to flee their homeland. It is money that they will never see themselves… The only thing giving Hondurans hope just now is the chance of immigration papers and the prospect of a new life in the U.S.”


Ross McDonnell is is a photographer and filmmaker born in Dublin. LightBox has previously featured McDonnell’s work on the Ukrainian protests, the ‘Auto Defensa’ anti-criminal uprisings in Mexico, Irish public housing projects and Enrique Metinides.

Olivier Laurent is the editor of TIME LightBox. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @olivierclaurent


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Exhaustion is the prevailing mood among departing migrants at the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula. The space is a hub for people aiming north. Honduras. July 15, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
HONDURAS - IMMIGRATION
Migrants at the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula chat about their previous experiences on the migrant trail as they await the bus to Aguas Calientes and the Guatemalan border. Honduras. July 15, 2014. Ross McDonnell for TIME
HONDURAS - IMMIGRATION
A crowd of departing migrants bound for the United States boards a bus that will take them overnight to the Honduras-Guatemala border and from there North to Mexico. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. July 15th, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A migrant looks out a bus window that is emblazoned with "Trust in God" as it prepares to head North towards Guatemala. San Pedro Sula. Honduras. July 15, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Forensics officers work the scene where Crisna Yidan Gutiel, 36, was gunned down in the barrio San Cristobal by two 'sicarios' on a motorbike while he was drinking a beer outside a local bar. San Pedro Sula has been referred to as the 'murder capital of the world'; its homicide rate is currently the highest on earth. Honduras. July 18, 2014. Ross McDonnell for TIME
HONDURAS - Honduran Police Patrol
Many of the houses in one section of the sprawling and dangerous Chamelecón barrio sit abandoned, their residents forced to leave by local gangs, known as 'Maras'. Rival gangs have created a buffer zone between territories they control. San Pedro Sula Honduras. July 15, 2014. Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Police who are supported by the Army patrol the Chamelecón area of San Pedro Sula. The area is a ghost town, as almost all residents left due to violence, extortion and murder. Honduras. July 15, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A missing child notice is tacked to a wall in the office of the Honduras Police in Corinto, at the border between Honduras and Guatemala. Honduras. July 18, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Minors, many in this wing belonging to the 'Mara Salvatrucha,' are detained at the Centro de Pedagogico El Carmen in San Pedro Sula for crimes across a broad spectrum. Honduras. July 18, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A minor sleeps in his bed at the youth detention center. Most of those here faced little choice in their communities: Join the Maras or face punishment. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. July 18, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Lookouts keep guard on the roof of the youth detention center in San Pedro Sula. Honduras. July 18, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Julio Manzanares, a fruit seller at the market in the Barrio Centro neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, was gunned down on a busy Saturday afternoon. Honduras. July 19, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Martha Iris Triminio, 44, from Chamelecón, one of the toughest and most violent barrios in Latin America, sought to travel to the U.S. with her 14-year-old son, Roberto Carlos (left). In May, after she heard President Barack Obama was offering visas to Honduran minors, she set off on the migrant trail using a 'coyote' for help, paying more than $6,000 per person. She was deported from Mexico before she could finish the trip. Honduras. July 16, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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An aid worker at the NGO called 'Caminando por la Paz,' or 'Walking Toward Peace,' in the Chamelecón barrio of San Pedro Sula said that all of the youths, all gang members, here seen posing for a photo with visiting Missionaries, are now dead. Honduras. July 16, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Students in a class room at 'Caminando por la Paz,' whose aid workers have a housing project and a school. Many Honduran youth leave school by 15, making them extremely vulnerable to crime and the influence of the Mara. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. July 16, 2014. Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A young girl looks at a crime scene in the Barrio Centro neighborhood of San Pedro Sula. A fruit seller in the market was gunned down in the street on a busy Saturday afternoon. Honduras. July 19, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Bus loads of young mothers, children and unaccompanied minors arrive to a return center for deported migrants run by the Honduran Institute of Children and Family (INFHA), most having been deported from Mexico on their journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. July 17, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Family members wait the return center for deported migrants in San Pedro Sula. Honduras. July 14, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A young girl walks outside the return center for deported migrants in San Pedro Sula. Honduras. July 17, 2014. Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A new task force is patrolling the Honduras-Guatemala border in a bid to stem illegal migration. A map of Honduras is displayed on the wall in a small police outpost at the Corinto crossing. Honduras. July 18th, 2014. Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A police official during a visit by American Congressmen in Chamelecón. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. July 19, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A body in a crime scene wrapped by police tape in San Pedro Sula. Honduras. July 18, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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'Elquin,' 17, waits at the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula to return home to Santa Barbara. He left for the U.S. alone 10 days earlier and was the first member of his immediate family to go north. From a farming community primarily focused on growing coffee, Elquin simply said he hoped for a better life. He had no immediate plans to travel north again but said he still wished to live in the U.S. Honduras. July 15, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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An unnamed Honduran girl, 15, was travelling alone in the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula. Timid and exhausted, she said she was deported from Mexico after having run away from home because her family situation was bad. She was waiting for a bus to Tegucigalpa but did not know what she would do when she arrived. Honduras. July 19, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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Christian, 22, from Tegucigalpa was deported from Miami, where he has a partner and a baby girl, 2. He recently tried to navigate the trip back to the U.S. without the help of a 'coyote' or smuggler but was caught. On the side of the road, he called his mother and friends to say he would return home in the morning. San Pedro Sula, Honduras. July 19, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
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A young boy in a river in the Chamlecón barrio, one of the most dangerous areas in San Pedro Sula. Honduras. July 19, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
Mexico - Migratns
At 'La 72,' a shelter for migrants near the Mexico-Guatemala border, 90 percent of current residents are Honduran. They are waiting for 'La Bestia,' the train that will take them north. At this moment, it had not arrived for six days. There is no time limit to how long people can stay for free at 'La 72' but the facilities are becoming stretched to capacity. Tenosique, Mexico. July 24, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
Mexico - Migratns
Lines form to be admitted to the sleeping quarters at the migrant shelter 'La 72.' It was close to capacity but no one was turned away. Tenosique, Mexico. July 24, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME
Mexico - Migratns
Mattresses and spare clothes sit in a storage room at 'La 72' shelter for migrants. Tenosique, Mexico. July 24, 2014.Ross McDonnell for TIME

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