With help from Mexico, number of child migrants crossing U.S. border falls

*The causees are several: Mexico is stopping children before they reach the U.S. border, violence is decreasing in some Central American countries, and the U.S. has launched public information campaigns in Central America to discourage children from traveling north. VL

By Ana Gonzalez-Barrera and Jens Manuel Korgstad, Pew Research Center

The Mexican government has deported a record number of Central American children traveling without a guardian since last fall, which President Obama and other U.S. officials say has contributed to a significant drop in children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexico’s 3,819 deportations of unaccompanied minors from Central America during the first five months of the fiscal year represent a 56% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Mexican and U.S. government data. The stepped up security was a result of a plan by Mexican officials to address the record surge in child migrants last year.

Overall, U.S. officials apprehended 12,509 unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border in the first five months of the fiscal year that began in October, down from 21,403 over the same time period a year ago.

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