Mexico recently announced that it will prohibit holding migrant children in their detention centers. The United Nations commended the country in its recent move.

(Photo : Reutersconnect/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
Migrants at the Paso del Norte international border bridge wait to be deported.

Mexico has been holding migrant children and their families in different detention centers for years.

This is to stop illegal migrants in the country and to reduce as well those who are using the Mexican borders in entering the U.S. soil. Most of them are seeking asylum. 

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Recently, Mexico announced that the country now changed its immigration policy. Under the new order, the Mexican government prohibits the detention of children along with their families in the different detention centers.

Instead, they will be turned over to the country's family development agency of immigration, according to a published article in NBC News.

Mexico has long been pressured by the different international and domestic groups to stop holding migrant children and their families in detention centers for years. After long years of battle, the Mexican government has finally made its decision to shift its immigration policy. 

Meanwhile, the United Nations and other organizations commended the effort and action of the Mexican government.

Under the new provision, children have their legal status provisionally recognized to avoid the risk of immediate deportation before having the opportunity of seeking protective status 

These changes were made a year after Mexico detained more child migrants than ever before. According to the data obtained, most of them are families coming from Central America and were crossing Mexico to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border during the first half of 2019. 

Moreover, the American federal government has made it more difficult for asylum seekers to pursue their cases at the border. In fact, asylum seekers whose reason is due to domestic violence are no longer accepted in the court. This pressured the Mexican government to control the number of migrants. 

There were many U.N. agencies said that these were the most important reforms that Mexico had made in the area since 2014.
This will bring Mexico in line with different international treaties.

It can also be remembered that the Trump administration asked the Mexica government to send more border patrols in the U.S.-Mexico borders to control the number of people who illegally cross the borders. 

The U.N. released a statement that reads: "The implementation of the reforms will help strengthen the system of childhood protection, benefiting the girls, boys, and adolescents in the context of human mobility, by guaranteeing them comprehensive compliance with their rights and making their best interest central." 

These new laws took effect on Wednesday after they were published on the official register.

Following this, Mexican authorities are expected to turn over children and their families to the country's family development agency and not from the National Immigration Institute.

According to the International Detention Coalition and the Institute for Migrating Women, more than 50,000 child migrants were detained last year in Mexico.

Most of them were from Honduras and Guatemala. It was also reported that the number of detainees increased to 82 percent compared in 2018. The groups also added that around 7,442 child migrants were detained from January to August this year.