In Central America, child migrants now face perils alone

Youths are increasingly making the risky journey through Mexico to the US without parents.

By Sara Miller Llana | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 3, 2007 edition

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Tapachula, Mexico - Roberto, Juan, and Angel are not even 16 yet. They flick rubber bands at one another in the main plaza of Tapachula in southern Mexico. They whisper and laugh. They lapse into their native indigenous language, and laugh harder.

But the boys are not in their local town square. They are Guatemalans who crossed illegally into Mexico. And they are not here to play. Two shine shoes; one sells gum and cigarettes.

Youths like these from across Central America are increasingly migrating by themselves to Mexico, hoping to connect with relatives and find jobs in the US.

"Five years ago, migrant children did not come [here] by themselves," says Fermina Rodriguez, a local human rights coordinator in Tapachula.

The trend concerns human rights advocates because they say that children are far less prepared to deal with the physical exhaustion, extortion, and violence that often greet the Central American migrants as they make their way through the back roads of Mexico to the US. And while many adult migrants quickly move north to the US border, children often linger before moving onward, creating local anger as they loiter in public spaces and, some say, contribute to crime.

'Rite of passage'

"It is such an ingrained solution [for a better life]. It's almost their duty. I've been calling it a rite of passage," says Betsy Wier, the manager of program development for Central America for Catholic Relief Services who oversaw a nine-month project on youths migrating alone that will be published soon. The study showed that unaccompanied migrants are often robbed, extorted, and intimidated – both during their journey and once in custody of immigration authorities.

"There aren't really people rallying for them," Ms. Wier says, "in part because it is such a new, and rapidly growing, phenomenon."

Her research, compiled from government figures documenting minors repatriated to their home countries, showed that the number of youths migrating alone has risen by about 1,000 children each year since 2004: from 3,000 to over 5,000 last year.

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