UN Calls on Mexico to End Detention of Child Migrants Under 'Southern Border Plan' Brianna Lee - International Business Times
go to original June 12, 2015

A Honduran migrant walks through a migrant shelter in Reynosa, Mexico. (Reuters/Simon Gardner)

The Obama administration is facing increasing pressure over the detention of migrant mothers and children awaiting deportation hearings – a practice condemned by immigrant rights’ groups, Catholic bishops and dozens of congressional Democrats alike. But across the border, Mexico is also feeling the heat as the United Nations urged it this week to end its growing detentions of child migrants.

Mexico dramatically stepped up its immigration enforcement last year under its “Southern Border Plan” as tens of thousands of migrants, mostly unaccompanied children and families, traveled north from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. As a result, the government sharply increased migrant detentions and deportations. According to national statistics, Mexico detained 23,096 children in 2014 for their immigration status, out of a total of 127,149 migrant detainees that year.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child drew attention to the detention issue Wednesday in Geneva, when the committee presented an assessment of children’s rights in a handful of countries, including Mexico. According to news agency Efe, the committee put particular emphasis on the issue of child migrant detentions, recommending Mexico stop administrative detentions for child migrants and focus on alternative measures.

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