Children 12 and under are fastest growing group of unaccompanied minors at U.S. border
Not only have more unaccompanied children illegally crossed the southern border this year — more than twice last year's total — but they are crossing at much younger ages, according to a study released this week ...
Since October, more than 57,000 youths have crossed the southern border unaccompanied, meaning without a parent or guardian ...
Although the increase among migrants ages 6 to 12 was significant, they made up only 14% of total youths apprehended at the border, according to the Pew report, which provides the first detailed portrait of the age and nationality of child migrants detained.
“These under-12-year-old children who are coming across the border unaccompanied, many of them are coming from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador,” said one of the authors of the study, Mark Lopez, Pew’s director of Hispanic research.
There are still more 13- to 17-year-olds crossing, 84% of youths apprehended. Most are 16- and 17-year-olds, Lopez said ...
The increase among unaccompanied teenage girls caught illegally crossing is highest among girls from Honduras, (5,300), followed by El Salvador (3,792), and Guatemala (2,699), according the Pew results released Friday ...
Far more boys are apprehended at the border ... 33,924 this year compared with 31,420 last year ...
Those who arrive unaccompanied often join parents who have been in the U.S. for years, have developed support networks and know where to turn for legal help, he [Bryan Johnson, a New York-based immigration lawyer] said ...
CAIRCO Research
- Male Unaccompanied Minors total - [per report] 33,924
- Female Unaccompanied Minors from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala [per calculator] total - 11,791
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Pew Hispanic Study - July 22, 2014
From October through the end of May, 46,932 unaccompanied children, nearly all from Mexico and Central America, were taken into custody, according to data obtained from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Recently released figures show that by the end of June, that number had risen to 57,525.
By comparison, 38,759 children were apprehended all of last fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013 ...
In the first eight months of fiscal year 2014, 84% were teens ...