Unprecedented Crackdown in Mexico Slows Central American Immigration to US Carrie Kahn - NPR.org
go to original September 13, 2014

Migrants at a shelter in southern Mexico say that Mexico's interior checkpoints are making it harder to travel north. Some have given up on reaching the U.S. and are trying to stay in Mexico. (Carrie Kahn/NPR)

The number of Central Americans reaching the U.S. border has dropped dramatically. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 60 percent fewer unaccompanied minors were apprehended in August than at the height of the migration crisis earlier this summer.

One factor leading to the drastic decline is an unprecedented crackdown in Mexico. Under pressure from the United States, Mexico has begun arresting and deporting tens of thousands of Central Americans long before they reach the U.S. border.

...This summer, Mexican authorities, who've long turned a blind eye to Central Americans' journey north, announced an unprecedented buildup of federal forces along Mexico's southern border.

Part of that plan includes a dozen interior checkpoints, where immigration officials stop buses and small vans carrying passengers north to look inside, check IDs and ask questions.

...In all, more than 30,000 Central Americans have been apprehended and sent home since the crackdown began, according to Mexico's interior minister. Many are children: In the first seven months of this year, 20,000 minors were returned — more than were deported in all of last year.

Critics say Mexico is doing the United States' dirty work.

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