While illegal migration across the U.S.-Mexico border has fallen dramatically in recent years,government officials say there has also been an alarming increase in the number of unaccompanied minors trying to cross into the United States.
The Administration for Children and Families, a division of U.S. Health and Human Services, says officials have detained about 6,500 unaccompanied minors who had crossed the border illegally since last October, roughly double the usual numbers.
Most of them aren't from Mexico, but from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and other Latin American countries. Most of them are teenagers, and many are accompanied by smugglers hired by their families.
Federal officials are blaming a new Mexican law that went into effect last year. The law allows more youths to remain in Mexico without visas. It was passed for humanitarian reasons, but it has enabled more unaccompanied minors to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border and attempt to enter the United States.
Immigration officials say they have set up shelters along the border to house the minors.
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