Mexico finds 370 abandoned immigrant children
Mexico finds 370 abandoned immigrant children
Reuters
5:57 p.m. EDT, March 29, 2014
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In one week, 370 immigrant children, most of them from Central America, were found abandoned in Mexico, after traffickers promised to take them to the United States but left them to their own devices after being paid thousands of dollars, authorities said.
Almost half of them, 163 children under the age of 18, were found traveling alone, Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) said in a statement.
Each month, thousands of immigrants, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, attempt to emigrate to the United States, crossing several borders in the process, despite the threat from drug gangs that kidnap, murder and rape women.
The children told federal migration agents that their 'guides' abandoned them after accepting $3,000 to $5,000 in payments, INM said.
The children and young people, who came from three of the poorest countries in Central America, were found between March 17 and 24, in 14 different states in Mexico.
More:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-mexico-immigration-20140329,0,661293.story