US and Mexico are putting migrant minors in ‘harm’s way’: report

A report published by Amnesty International found that the US and Mexico returned tens of thousands of migrant children.

The United States and Mexico have returned tens of thousands of migrant children travelling alone back to their country, denying them access to asylum and often putting their lives in danger, Amnesty International said in a report (PDF) published on Friday. According to the report by the UK-based rights organisation, the US has returned the majority of Mexican unaccompanied minors, while Mexico has expelled most of the Central American children who have entered its borders – without effectively assessing the dangers they could face. “What we have found is that both the US and Mexican governments were sending tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children back to their countries of origin without adequate screening for the harm that they could face there,” Brian Griffey, Amnesty’s North American regional researcher told Al Jazeera.