IMMIGRATION

In Calexico, arrests of unaccompanied minors double since 2017 as Mexican youth flee poverty, violence

Rebecca Plevin
Palm Springs Desert Sun
"Alfredo", a minor who attempted to enter the U.S. without proper documentation was detained by Customs and Border Patrol and repatriated to Mexicali, Mexico. In this photo he holds up a plastic bag used by the Department of Homeland Security to hold belongings during his detainment.

On Wednesday, a 16-year-old girl from southwestern Mexico jumped over a fence along the United States-Mexico border at Calexico. Within minutes, Border Patrol agents found her, arrested her and deported her to Mexicali.

By Thursday afternoon, Karina, who only provided her first name, was waiting for a relative to pick her up at the Albergue del Desierto, a shelter in Mexicali for deported teenagers and women with kids.

She was fleeing poverty and crime in a mountainous region in the state of Guerrero, she said. The state has few jobs except in coastal tourist destinations like Acapulco, so Karina had planned to work in the U.S. and send money home to her parents, subsistence farmers who grow corn.

"Many people from my community are coming here and crossing for the same reason — to have a better life," Karina said.

Karina is one of a wave of children who have been arrested while trying to cross the border near Calexico in recent months. As of May 31, Border Patrol agents from the El Centro sector had apprehended 1,717 unaccompanied minors in the Calexico area during fiscal year 2018 — a 95 percent increase compared to the same point last year, according to figures released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection earlier this week.

Five sectors along the southwest border have seen more arrests of migrant teens attempting to illegally enter the country. But Yuma is the only sector in the southwest with a larger year-over-year increase in arrests of unaccompanied children. As of the end of May, agents had arrested 3,973 minors who tried crossing the border illegally in western Arizona — a 110 percent increase from the previous year.

When U.S. officials catch unaccompanied teenage migrants, they turn them over to Mexican child protective services. In Mexicali, the Mexican government then passes them on to Albergue del Desierto, a shelter that houses and feeds deported migrants. The shelter's staff contact kids' relatives and help them reunite with their families

"Karina" a minor who attempted to enter the U.S. without proper documentation was detained by Customs and Border Patrol and repatriated to Mexicali, Mexico and released to Mexican child protective services.

Monica Oropeza Rodriguez, who runs the shelter, said she started seeing an increase in unaccompanied minors last September —  a time when youth migration typically drops because kids return to school. For several years, a majority of the kids arrested by the Border Patrol along the country's southwestern border have been Guatemalan, but Oropeza said she hasn't received one Central American this year. Rather, she said the teenagers her shelter has received this year have practically all been from the southwestern states of Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Oropeza said the Mexican youth are fleeing violence, gangs and drug traffickers — all the results of extreme and entrenched poverty.

In March, the U.S. State Department listed Guerrero and Michoacán as two of five Mexican states to which U.S. citizens should not travel. In Guerrero, armed groups operate independently of the government, according to the department’s advisory.

"Members of these groups frequently maintain roadblocks and may use violence toward travelers," the advisory explains.

U.S. government employees are prohibited from traveling to the entire state, including the popular resort destination of Acapulco, it says.

"Even though they are leaving due to insecurity, the root of the problem is the economic situation here in Mexico," Oropeza said in Spanish. "They are leaving now to save their lives."

But as the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended for illegally crossing the border has nearly doubled, Oropeza said she has not seen a similar spike in the number of women and kids brought to her shelter. Border Patrol data show 1,613 families were apprehended in the El Centro sector in fiscal year 2018 — only a 16 percent increase from the previous year.

"Karina" a minor who attempted to enter the U.S. without proper documentation was detained by Customs and Border Patrol and repatriated to Mexicali, Mexico and released to Mexican child protective services.

David Kim, assistant chief patrol agent for the El Centro sector, chalked up the increase in apprehensions of unaccompanied minors to the fact that Mexicali is considered safer than other cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. These days, he said people can easily access information on smuggling routes on the Internet or social media.

"I think information is probably out there on the Internet, on safe places to cross, or safe areas or just safety in general," Kim said.

"I would say the majority of people that we encounter or arrest do have cell phones with them," he added. "I would assume they have access to social media and Internet connections."

Oropeza said it's possible some migrant youth may have heard it's relatively safer than other border cities. But, she said, that can provide a misguided sense of confidence for migrants trying to cross through the region's rugged mountains and canals, especially when the desert heat rises into the triple digits.

"In this area, there are parts of the border that are not so closely guarded, where people can safely pass through," she said. "But they are extremely dangerous."

Fifteen-year-old Alfredo, who only provided his first name, was apprehended early Wednesday morning with three cousins. They had run through the desert for an hour and were hiding below a tree when the Border Patrol caught them. The agents deported the cousins to Mexicali.

On Thursday at Albergue del Desierto, Alfredo, who is from Guerrero, said he and his cousins had heard Mexicali was a safe place to try crossing the border. As he spoke, he clutched an orange and some crackers — snacks he'd received from Mexican child protective services.

"They say people always get through here," he said in Spanish in a soft voice.

His cousin, 23-year-old Virginia, also from Guerrero, said she now knows that's not true.

"There are immigration agents guarding the desert," she said in Spanish. "Frequently, they'll drive by on their motorcycles or cars, so people can't cross."

Virginia had hoped to join relatives on California's Central Coast and get work harvesting strawberries. She intended to send money home to her parents, who are subsistence farmers growing corn, beans and zucchini, and raising her seven younger siblings. She said she was disappointed her plan was thwarted.

"I'm going to live in my town like always, in poverty," she said.

The Rio Grande Valley of Texas has been the most heavily trafficked route in the southwest for unaccompanied minors this year. As of May 31, there were 14,846 apprehensions of teenage migrants in that sector during fiscal year 2018, which began Oct. 1. That represented a 22 percent decrease from the previous fiscal year, when 18,974 kids were arrested.

During the current fiscal year, the Border Patrol has apprehended 16,480 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, 6,690 from Mexico, 6,350 from Honduras and 2,690 from El Salvador.

Rebecca Plevin covers immigration and equality for The Desert Sun. Contact her at rebecca.plevin@desertsun.com or 760-218-0021. Follow her on Twitter at @rebeccaplevin.