GUATEMALA CITY ( Associated Press) – Mexico on Tuesday deported to Guatemala 92 children and teens who were detained by Mexican immigration officials because they were trying to immigrate to the United States unaccompanied by an adult.
The minors arrived in a white charter plane with a Mexican flag, with a smile painted on the front, in contrast to the expressions of the minors, who had landed in line and in silence when they arrived in Guatemala.
Herbert, 17, arrived hugging a cuddly unicorn stuffed animal, another younger youth holding a doll in his hands.
Of the 92 deported minors, 18 were crammed into a trailer by Mexican authorities last month after a checkpoint on a highway that leads to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, opposite El Paso, Texas.
28 adults also arrived by flight. One of the deported migrants, Jonathan Quiroa, 32, told The Associated Press that he traveled from Escuintla department in the south of the country on January 25 on his way to the United States.
Quiroa explained that he travels to Mexico by his own means and that Mexican immigration stopped the bus where he was going, asked him for an identity card, and since he did not have it, he was detained. and was deported.
“We have a lousy government and no job opportunities, so I left,” says the migrant. Quiroa said, “I had a store and I had to close it because of extortion, there is no security here, so there is no way to support the family.”
Steward Rodríguez, director of the National Institute of Migration, commented that the number of children and young people apprehended is an indication that the status of minors remains a migration reality. But he said there are institutions that work to provide better treatment for deported Guatemalans.
Rodriguez said investigations are already underway to determine how these minors travel, find out who they travel with and whether there are trafficking networks “and know exactly who is behind these minors.” (migration) who is,” he said.
Since January, there have been 617 minors who have been deported, according to the attorney general’s office.
