The unprecedented arrival of unaccompanied minors without proper immigration status from Central American countries has been much in the news recently. Since October 2013, a record-setting number of unaccompanied children from Central America have been apprehended along the United States-Mexico border. Although these children lack a legal immigration status or visas, they have begun presenting themselves at the United States border for admission after a perilous journey from their home nations. Their migration to the United States has raised legal, procedural and philosophical questions across the immigration legal sector and beyond.
The numbers are staggering: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported that between Oct. 1, 2013, and June 15, 2014, more than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended. The number of unaccompanied minors has increased significantly compared to the same time period last year, when CBP apprehended only about half that number. These children are less than 17 years of age—sometimes as young as 5 or 6—and are apprehended along the United States-Mexico border without a parent accompanying them. The majority originates from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras or Mexico, and most are being apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas.
