January to March Sees 900% Increase in Migrant Children Reported in Mexico on Way to US
The number of migrant children in Mexico hoping to make it to the United States reportedly increased by over 900 percent from January to March of this year.
An analysis conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund determined that 380 migrant children were in Mexico at the beginning of the year, with that number jumping to 3,500 by the end of March.
Those figures translate to an average of 275 minors arriving in Mexico each day, The New York Times reported.
UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America expressed her concern for the children who are flooding the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I was heartbroken to see the suffering of so many young children, including babies, at the Mexican border with the U.S.,” Jean Gough said.
While attention has been focused on the Biden administration’s border crisis, Gough is also worried about the conditions in Mexico.
“Most of the shelter facilities I visited in Mexico are already overcrowded and cannot accommodate the increasing number of children and families migrating northward,” she said.
Gough also argued that the underlying issue at the border is poverty in Mexico and Central America.
“The real child crisis is not at the U.S. border, it’s in the poorest communities of northern Central America and Mexico,” she said.
[firefly_poll]
“Central American families aren’t migrating — they are fleeing.”
President Joe Biden finally used the term “crisis” on Saturday to describe the situation at the border, but he has done little to address the surging number of illegal migrants.
The White House has since tried to walk back his comments.
The president was “was referring to the crisis in Central America — the dire circumstances so many are fleeing from. He was not referring to the Federal Government’s response,” an unnamed White House official told CNN.
While the Biden administration kept in place coronavirus measures imposed at the border by former President Donald Trump, it has also paused border wall construction and gotten rid of key immigration policies like the Migrant Protection Protocols.
.@CBPMarkMorgan says the Biden administration needs to reinstate the border policies from the Trump administration.
“If they do that, you will see their ability to manage this crisis exponentially increase overnight.” pic.twitter.com/svlKMpOrZb
— The National Desk (@TND) April 20, 2021
There certainly doesn’t seem to be much urgency from the current White House to put a stop to skyrocketing illegal migration.
It’s a tragic situation all the way around — and one the Biden administration doesn’t seem to be capable of fixing.
Did you know that The Western Journal now publishes some content in Spanish as well as English, for international audiences? Click here to read this article on The Western Journal en Español!
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
