Migrant Kids Will Flood the US Again, But the Real Crisis May Be in Mexico Ted Hesson - Fusion
go to original February 25, 2015

The child migrant crisis that rocked the U.S. last summer might have stayed invisible except for a series of photos depicting children crammed into crowded Border Patrol cells. You probably won’t see those images again - for a number of reasons.

The flow of unaccompanied minors will likely resume, but a series of steps taken by the Obama administration and regional governments will virtually ensure that the crisis won’t be repeated, at least in the same way.

“We responded with decisive action, and the situation has improved significantly,” Marsha Catron, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told Fusion in a statement.

Whether the situation for migrants fleeing Central America has “improved” is debatable, but it certainly has changed. Here are some of the ways things will be different this time around:
Pushing the border further south

The number of Central American children venturing north this summer could drop by an estimated 39 percent compared to last year, according to one early estimate by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). Part of the reason may be the obstacles they face before reaching the U.S. border.

Mexico has ramped up its deportations of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in the past year. In fact, those migrants made up 97 percent of the total number of people deported from Mexico in 2014.

Graphic: Kent Hernández/Fusion

The vast majority of those deportations took place in Mexico’s southernmost states, including Chiapas and Veracruz. While the country’s border with Guatemala is still porous, this is evidence that Mexico is willing to play the role of enforcer to choke off the flow of migrants.

Read the rest at Fusion

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

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