Language and International Migration: Visualizing the Linguistic Patterns among Unaccompanied Alien Children Detained in the United States (2014–2016)

What do the languages spoken by migrants reveal about the social forces that shape international migration flows? This visualization of languages spoken by unaccompanied lien children (UACs) detained in the United States between 2014 and 2016 demonstrates how linguistic diversity among UACs varies across language families, countries of origin, and world regions. The relationship between the languages represented in this dataset and UACs’ countries of origin reveals patterns that are invisible when focusing solely on country of origin, including migration patterns of ethnic and racial minorities, colonial legacies evident in the languages spoken, and prior international migration flows of groups before they reached the United States. Thus, this visualization warrants greater attention to migrant language as a key demographic indicator for understanding international migration dynamics.