Human Smugglers Adapting to Outwit Mexican Crackdown on Minors Reaching US John Breslin - AMI Newswire
go to original July 1, 2016

Victims of human trafficking (Pinterest)

People smugglers appear to be outwitting Mexican authorities as the number of unaccompanied minors from Central America apprehended inside the U.S. border has dramatically increased this year.

Following the 2014 surge in children picked up after crossing the border, the numbers halved the following year in the face of a U.S.-supported clampdown by Mexico.

But now the numbers have climbed again, to close to 40,000 from the beginning of October 2015 to the end of May.

“Smugglers, like any good businesspeople, adapted their model and use new routes to get around increased enforcement,” said Megan McKenna of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), an advocacy and support for unaccompanied minors.

In 2015, children were still leaving their countries in the same numbers, but were not able to reach the U.S. border, she added.

“The drop in numbers in 2015 was largely due to Programa Frontera Sur,” said McKenna, referring to the Mexican government’s enhanced enforcement program to intercept minors, and other immigrants, coming from Central America, which began July 2014.

“The result is it increased the apprehension and deportation in Mexico of unaccompanied children, many of them trying to come to the U.S,” said McKenna.

Latest figures released by U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  reveal that 38,566 unaccompanied minors, or unaccompanied alien children, were apprehended at the border since October. This compares to 22,832 in Fiscal Year 2015 and 46,858 in FY'14. (The Fiscal Year ends each Sept. 30.)

Nationals of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala make up the majority of unaccompanied minors. There was also a sharp increase in family units, usually mothers with children.

Read the rest at AMI Newswire

Related: Human Smugglers Hail Uber Drivers to Take Migrants to US-Mexico Border (Reuters)

Related: Victims of Mexico's “La Bestia” Warn of the Dangerous Journey (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Related: Human Trafficking Report Gives Bad Marks to Some LatAm Nations (Insight Crime)

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