Description

Statistics from Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) indicate that between January and July, 3,391 Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran children were deported, 50 percent more than in the same period in 2011.

Of these, 2,801 were unaccompanied, showing how vulnerable these migrant children are. Many of them are abandoned to their fate by “coyotes” or people smugglers.

“Many of them are caught up in human trafficking networks,” Jaime Rivas, the coordinator of the migrations programme of the government’s National Directorate of Investigations, told IPS.