Mexico crackdown reduced number of child migrants at US border – study
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Version 0 of 1. Mexican efforts to crack down on Central American migrants have vastly reduced the number of unaccompanied minors reaching the border of the United States, according a new analysis of deportation figures by the Pew Research Center. The study, based on US and Mexican deportation figures, found that US officials detained 12,509 unaccompanied minors at the southern border in the first five months of this year – down 8,894 from the same period in the previous year. Meanwhile, record numbers of Central American immigrant minors have been deported from Mexico this year. During the first five months of the year, Mexican officials have deported 3,819, 56% more than the same period last year, according to Pew. More than 7,700 of the minors detained in Mexico are from Central America’s three “northern triangle” countries: Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Related: Mexico deports record numbers of women and children in US-driven effort The increase in deportations from Mexico follows intense media and political attention to a surge in unaccompanied minors crossing the US-Mexico border in the summer of 2014. Most are believed to be fleeing violence, as the northern triangle countries have some of the highest murder rates in the world. Many immigration experts believe the stepped-up enforcement by Mexican authorities is the result of political pressure from the US after last summer’s surge stretched immigration facilities to capacity. The US has also pledged $86m towards upgrading Mexico’s checkpoints, roadblocks and naval bases. The crackdown has drastically reduced the number of migrants hitching a lift on the infamous freight train known as La Bestia – the Beast – which for many years was an important, if potentially lethal, route north for migrants. Travelling by bus has also become more difficult since the government increased the number of roadblocks, particularly near Mexico’s southern border. The Mexican government claims the crackdown is intended to protect migrants from the dangers of the journey and abuse by traffickers. Migrant activists say it is doing neither. “The policy boils down the the hunting, detention and deportation of migrants,” said Rubén Figueroa of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, who noted that the vast majority of the unaccompanied child migrants detained are adolescents rather than small children. “This has pushed them into taking more dangerous routes, and becoming more dependent on traffickers.” Maureen Meyer, a Mexican immigration expert with the Washington Office on Latin America, said Mexico’s rapid deportations and aggressive enforcement could open migrants up to a new range of abuses. “Most migrants are not being screened for protections, so they’re being rapidly deported back to the dangerous situations they were fleeing from,” said Meyer. To avoid detection entirely, some migrants are taking more risks. Meyer said some migrants are travelling more isolated and rural land routes, or paying smugglers more to travel by sea. Others are jumping from roaring trains to avoid raids on La Bestia. Migrants feel “hunted down” by Mexican immigration officials, Meyer said. “It was clear that Mexico had plans before last summer” to step up immigration enforcement, said Meyer. “It’s clear that this stepped-up effort, after July, was in response to pressure from the US to work with them, and help stem the flow of Central American migrants into the US.” Pew Research Center points out that in addition to increased immigration enforcement by Mexican authorities, American officials have attempted to deter migration through education campaigns in the northern triangle. Carlos Flores, who heads the Honduran branch of the children’s rights NGO Casa Alianza, said the organisation had noticed a small drop in the number of families with young children making the journey but little change in the numbers of adolescents. He said there was little indication that the Mexican crackdown would lead to a drop-off in the number of those leaving in the future, as the conditions of extreme gang-related violence and desperate poverty behind their flight remained unchanged. “Nobody has done anything to deal with the roots of the problem,” he said. “It is harder to get through Mexico now, but six or seven of the deportees we talk to say they intend to try again.” Official figures do show falling murder rates in Honduras over the past year, though the situation remains critical. El Salvador, meanwhile, has seen an increase in its murder rate, widely attributed to the breakdown of a truce between the country’s youth gangs, with more people killed in March than in any other month for a decade. |