Unaccompanied Minors Crossing the Border–The Facts
Alex Nowrasteh
Over the last few weeks, the media has been abuzz with stories of unaccompanied minors coming across the border and being apprehended by Customs and Border Protections (CBP). Many of the facts on the ground are fuzzy because we do not have a complete picture of all of the relevant data. In this post I will lay out several of the relevant facts as they exist. I will present information that focuses on how the detention facilities are overwhelmed but that it is less likely that border patrol agents on the border are actually overwhelmed.
Background
The unlawful immigration of minors is not a new phenomenon, although it has increased recently. CBP released this table showing the large increase in the number of unaccompanied minors that have been encountered (different from “apprehended”):
Country
Fiscal Year 2009
Fiscal Year 2010
Fiscal Year 2011
Fiscal Year 2012
Fiscal Year 2013
Fiscal Year 2014
El Salvador
1,221
1,910
1,394
3,314
5,990
9,850
Guatemala
1,115
1,517
1,565
3,835
8,068
11,479
Honduras
968
1,017
974
2,997
6,747
13,282
Mexico
16,114
13,724
11,768
13,974
17,240
11,577
Total:
19,418
18,168
15,701
24,120
38,045
46,188
Source: http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-border-unaccompanied-children
The government has not released data for the total number of unauthorized immigrants encountered or apprehended so far in 2014. As a result, I have to use 2013 data to see how big of an addition unaccompanied m...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs