Immigration and Deportation Update: Mexican Authorities Deported More Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors than US
Mexican officials are reportedly deporting unaccompanied undocumented children at a higher rate than the United States.
Mexican authorities have deported over 13,000 of the 14,000 undocumented minors who traveled without a parent or guardian and were caught entering Mexico from Central America. Meanwhile, more than 60,000 unaccompanied, undocumented children in the United States have yet to be deported.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesman explained that the undocumented children in the U.S. have to be processed through the country's legal system, but as Latin Post reported, the immigration courts have a backlog of cases. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, the average immigration case in the U.S. can take 520 days to complete. The Department of Justice noted that the nation's immigration courts have a backlog of 375,373 cases, approximately 50,000 more cases than in 2012.
Mexican government sources, via BuzzFeed, said most of the children were detained at the country's southern border. The majority of the minors come from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and range between the ages of 12 and 17. Similar to the U.S., Mexican officials also provide clothing, food, medical treatment and shelter to the apprehended unaccompanied children.
At the southern U.S. border, DHS' Customs and Border Protection announced the agency has seen an increase of unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America, specifically in the Rio Grande Valley. The CBP revealed 62,997 unaccompanied immigrant minors, aged 17 and younger, were apprehended between Oct. 2013 and July 2014. The Rio Grande Valley sector apprehended 46,307 unaccompanied minors.
The CBP noted 47,906 unaccompanied immigrant children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were encountered during the 2014 fiscal year to July 31. Honduras led the statistics with 17,582 unaccompanied youths while Guatemala and El Salvador followed with 15,733 and 14,591, respectively.
Meanwhile, Mexico saw a decline of unaccompanied minors encountered by the CBP. In 2013, the CBP confronted 17,240 unaccompanied Mexican minors, more than double the number from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. For 2014, so far, the number of unaccompanied youths originating from Mexico is at its lowest since 2011, with 13,675 encounters.
In regards to immigrant adults, Mexican authorities deported more than 64,000 of an estimated 69,000 undocumented individuals.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is in California this week to meet with Gov. Jerry Brown. According to Brown's office, the Mexican president will address the California lawmakers in Sacramento on Tuesday. While Brown and Peña Nieto have focused on climate change and environment agreements, the topic of immigration has been discussed.