Deportation Of Unaccompanied Minors By US Border Patrol Was Over 13,000 In 2012, Says Mexico

Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) has written in a report for the lower house of that country's Congress that in 2012, US immigration authorities apprehended and deported 13,454 Mexican minors who were attempting to cross into the US unaccompanied by an adult. According to Animal Politico, SRE indicates that communication and collaboration between US immigration authorities and Mexican consular representatives has increased in recent years, with the latter working harder and more effectively to protect and support those of its citizens placed in American custody for immigration-related offenses. Since 2008, the number of minors of Mexican nationality waiting in American custody to be transferred to Mexican migration services has climbed, the report also indicated.

In May of this year, the Pew Center issued its own report on unaccompanied children who try to cross the US border. It found that the US Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the office of the US Health and Human Services responsible for the care and custody of minors while their immigration status is considered, saw a record 13,625 children referred to them.

RELATED: Why Are So Many Central Americans Fleeing Home?

The Pew Center also said that the Border Patrol apprehended some 24,481 unaccompanied children as they tried to cross into the United States in 2012 - more than three times the number in 2008, and one that comes out to 80-120 children per day. But a simple look at the estimates - 24,481 in total, and 13,454 minors from Mexico - indicates that many of those minors who are taken into US custody are from elsewhere. According to the Pew Center, most of this group hails from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Drug violence has spurred a flood of young people out of those three Central American countries.

RELATED: US To Resume Flying Deportees To Mexico City; What Did They Do With Them Before?

US immigration authorities are seeing a corresponding increase in asylum requests, especially in counties near the remotest areas on the border. For instance, in 2013 about 12,400 such requests have come from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, a foremost destination for those who brave an illegal border crossing, compared to about 3,400 in 2009. Many of them are from Central America.

RELATED: Immigrant Children Locked Up In Adult Detention For Months, Reports ICE

The United States and Mexican governments announced earlier in July that US immigration authorities would begin a permanent policy of flying apprehended Mexican citizens to the capital of Mexico City instead of disgorging them in cities along the border.