Mexican officials crack down on migrant caravans; hundreds detained
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DALLAS (NewsNation Now) — Video shows chaos erupting when about 200 migrants try to make their way from the southernmost tip of Mexico to the United States and are caught along the way.
It was a nighttime raid in Mapastepec, Mexico, just west of Guatemala, and ignited a migrant uproar.
Migrants were tackled to the ground and pulled from hiding in vans and homes — some of them even throwing stones at Mexican officials in riot gear.
The agents are members of Mexico’s National Guard and the National Migration Institute. Approximately 14,000 troops have been ordered by the Mexican president to crack down on migrants crossing into Mexico and the United States. This comes after the United States Supreme Court ordered former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy be reinstated under the Biden administration.
Many migrant advocates say the reinstatement of that policy is only adding fuel to the fire and is making migrants more desperate to escape their circumstances. August numbers have not been released, but more than 210,000 migrants were apprehended in July, the highest number in more than 20 years. Approximately 19,000 of them were unaccompanied children.
A new Axios report released this week claimed the U.S. government can’t get into contact with a substantial amount of children released into the U.S. The report claims phone calls made to migrant children who were released in the country to be reunited with family or sponsors went unanswered. Those attempted phone calls happened between January and May.
In those months, care providers made almost 15,000 calls, about 5,000 went unanswered. However, 15,000 calls doesn’t provide a clear enough picture.
In the first five months of the year, more than 65,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the border. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discharged 32,000 of them — more than double the phone calls would need to be made.
NewsNation’s request for comment from HHS went unanswered, but it does raise concerns about how well the government can really protect those children once they arrive.
