In the summer of 2014 record numbers of unaccompanied Central American minors — and thousands of others, arriving with family members — crossed the southern US border and gave themselves up to American immigration officers. Tens of thousands were detained — some were deported, and others released to family members or guardians.
In early 2015, a team of 15 graduate and undergraduate journalists from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, in partnership with The GroundTruth Project and Fusion, embarked on a four-month investigation to determine what happened next.
This Special Report was made possible by support from the Henry Luce Foundation. It was produced by The GroundTruth Project and appeared on GlobalPost.com in 2015.