Minors at the border

Over the past eight months 85,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed the southern border. These come mostly from Central America which means a 2,000 mile journey to the US border. These children are at the mercy of unsavory characters crossing Mexico trying to get to the US. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-profit think tank based in the U.S., the immigration authorities encountered nearly 150,000 unaccompanied minors at or near the U.S.-Mexico border during the last fiscal year. That would be between Oct of 2020 and Oct of 2021. The term “unaccompanied minor” doesn’t always mean that a child traveled to the country by themselves. Some are separated from family at the border or left behind by smugglers, according to the council. Families will pay smugglers to transport their children to the US where they are then left alone at the border to await the border patrol to pick them up. There is no reporting of what, if anything, happens to these children during the journey.