Mexico Deportations Trim Flow of Child Migrants to U.S. Number of unaccompanied minors in first five months of fiscal year (Oct-Feb.) 22K 20 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
The Mexican government has deported a record number of Central American children traveling without a guardian since last fall, which President Obama and other U.S. officials say has contributed to a significant drop in children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mexico’s 3,819 deportations of unaccompanied minors from Central America during the first five months of the fiscal year represent a 56% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Mexican and U.S. government data. The stepped up security was a result of a plan by Mexican officials to address the record surge in child migrants last year.
Overall, U.S. officials apprehended 12,509 unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border in the first five months of the fiscal year that began in October, down from 21,403 over the same time period a year ago. (Most children apprehended during this fiscal year — 7,771 — came from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, with nearly all of the rest coming from Mexico.)
Mexico Deportations Trim Flow of  | Child Migrants to U.S.  | Number of unaccompanied minors in first five  | months of fiscal year (Oct-Feb.)  | 22K  | 20  | 18  | Apprehended  | 16  | Apprehended by U.S.  | Deported  | 14  | by Mexico  | 12  | 10  | 8  | 6  | 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015  | Note: U.S apprehens ions are at U. S. Mexico border and  | include unaccompanied Mexican children Mexico  | deporta tions unaccompanied refer being to apprehe nsions anywhere in Mexico that  | result in children being re united with family in country of origin.  | Source: Pew Research Center ana lysis of Mexican Ministry of  | the Interior (SEGOB) data US Customs and Border Protection.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 