A small share of the over 100,000 from children from Central America who have entered the United States without their parents have ended up living across Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain states have taken in less than 1 percent of the more than 100,000 unaccompanied minors who crossed the border from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since the fall of 2013.
Colorado has 860 of the children. According to federal data, at least a third of them went to homes in four Front Range counties — Arapahoe, Denver, El Paso and Weld.
However, the data and the experience of immigration lawyers representing these children — whom immigration lawyers say range from age 6 through teenagers — suggest that the rest are scattered all around the state.
Sponsors in Wyoming have taken in 19 unaccompanied minors since 2013. Montana, meanwhile, became home to three migrants since 2013 though none have arrived yet so far this year.
All children — including those living in the U.S. illegally— must attend school through at least the 8th grade or until they turn 16 under compulsory education laws in all 50 states.
Read more from our partners at The Denver Post.
