LOS ANGELES: The number of undocumented and unaccompanied minor immigrants entering United States this year dropped to 50 percent, owing to a crackdown by Mexican authorities, the forum of the National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities, or NALACC.
The forum reported both U.S. and Mexican authorities have detained the same number of immigrant children.
“It would seem the crisis had ended, going by the numbers being detained at the border, but the truth is there is a much larger number of immigrants being detained in Mexico,” said Maureen Meyer, expert on Mexico and human rights.
Mexican authorities, Meyer says, have banned immigrants from boarding cross-border trains to reach the border with U.S. and are conducting more squads and searches.
U.S. Border Patrol’s latest report reveals 26,685 undocumented and unaccompanied minors were detained at the Southwestern border until June 30, 2015, a 54 percent drop over the same period last year, when the figure stood at 57,478.
Despite the decrease, experts believe there’s work to be done in countries of origin towards resolving the root causes of migration.
According to Karla Castle, a Salvadorian expert on forced migration, a recent investigation in El Salvador revealed a majority of the 300 repatriated juveniles in a return center in El Salvador, fled their country to escape violence.
The researcher explained while many had relatives in the U.S., only 35 percent left their country to be reunited with family.
Security and economic problems are displacing people inside the country too, Castillo said, and more young people are trying to cross over the border to neighboring countries, including Costa Rica and Panama.
Meanwhile, the plight of minors and their families, detained in U.S., remains stark too, owing to financial and emotional constraints.
