What’s happening to migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border?

Sheng Jiadi

text

01:02

U.S. Border Patrolagents detained more than 100,000 migrants in February alone, a figure that’s expected to increase in the coming weeks.

But because of a COVID-19 policy, most are returned to Mexico. And that is a real concern for migrants’ living conditions at Mexican side of the border.

An estimated 15,000 migrant children or teenagers are in federal custody, roughly a third of them in facilities meant for adults.

The U.S. is on pace to see two million undocumented migrants arrive this year.The problem has become impossible to ignore.

CGTN’s Sheng Jiadi visited a temporary facility for migrants at the U.S. Mexico border and found most of them are living in harsh conditions. Hundreds of people crowded in an open-air pavilion.

The influx had begun to grow even before Biden came to office in January, propelled partly by deteriorating conditions in parts of Central America.

There is a growing humanitarian crisis at the border as the number of migrants fleeing violence, natural disasters and economic hardship spiked.

Check out

The China Report

, our new weekly newsletter.Subscribe here!