More than 10,000 Children Were Deported to Mexico Last Year Alone Cristina Costantini - ABC/Univision
go to original July 31, 2013

A young boy with his clothes placed in a plastic bag, crosses the Suchiate River that separates the border of Guatemala and Mexico. Many of such crossers continue on to the United States. (Fernando Morales/AFP/Getty Images)

Although illegal border crossings have declined dramatically in recent years, more and more children are crossing the border alone.

Nearly 14,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended in U.S. and sent back to Mexico in 2012 alone, and nearly 25,000 unaccompanied children total were apprehended by U.S. border patrol in the same fiscal year. That's a 204% increase in such crossings from 2008.

So, why are so many kids coming to the U.S. alone?

Many do so to escape domestic abuse, political turmoil and human trafficking, while others are simply seeking to reunite with their family members already in the states, according to Wendy Young, the president of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), an organization which provides pro-bono legal representation to unaccompanied minors.

"Kids don't just travel across international borders unless there is something wrong with their life," said Young.

Read the rest at ABC/Univision

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!