Mexico sees massive influx of children at border with US: UNICEF

Children are staying in overcrowded shelters in Mexico and more than half are without their parents, rights group says.

Mexico has seen a nine-fold increase in the number of migrant children arriving since the beginning of the year, the United Nation’s child rights agency said, warning that many children are being held in overcrowded shelters near the country’s border with the United States. In a statement on Monday, UNICEF said the number of children increased from 380 to almost 3,500 since the start of 2021. Half of the children, who hail primarily from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, have travelled without their parents – “one of the highest proportions ever recorded in Mexico”, the group said.