Oaxaca Migrant Shelter Sees Growing Number of Minors Heading North Martha Pskowski - CIP Americas Program
go to original April 15, 2014

The founder of Hermanos en el Camino is Alejandro Solalinde, a Catholic priest, who protects migrants against criminal organizations. (Amnesty International - Suomen Osasto)

... When the freight train “The Beast” arrives in Ixtepec, Oaxaca – sometimes carrying more than 1,000 Central American migrants – Hermanos en el Camino is ready to receive those who reach its doors. Some days, more than 100 people enter the shelter in the minutes after the train arrives. Women and young children are directed to the front of the registration line. They are always out-numbered, but their ranks are steadily climbing. This isn’t an exception – it’s the new reality of Central American migration to the United States.

Contrary to the classic image of young men migrating to work, women and children now broaden the ranks of Central American migration, yet are disturbingly overlooked in the Mexican and U.S. immigration systems. In the first two months of this year, Hermanos en el Camino provided direct aid to 2,020 migrants. Among these were 183 women, or 9 percent of guests, and 121 minors, another 7 percent.

While it is difficult to estimate how many unaccompanied minors cross in total, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has estimated that more than 60,000 could make the journey to the United States in 2014. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 95 percent of them come from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The tribulations of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are well known, yet by that point the minors migrating have already passed significant hurdles. Over 7,000 minors were detained and deported from Mexico in 2013, almost doubling the 2012 total.

Migrant shelters like Hermanos en el Camino are on the frontlines of supporting young people migrating through Mexico. The shelter was founded in February 2007, and the founder, Father Alejandro Solalinde, has received international recognition for his work to protect migrants in Mexico. Speaking in March 2014 in Ixtepec he said that in 2007, “For every 1,000 migrants, we saw one child.” Today the number of children who pass through the shelter is ‘shocking.’ ”

Read the rest at CIP Americas

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