Between 2010 and 2021, the number of children under 12 years old arriving in Mexico increased significantly from 839 to 52,484, according to records from the National Migration Institute (INM), and in 2014 there were only 8,828, the Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI) noted yesterday.
In a workshop on the subject, Rosalba Rivera, coordinator of migrant children at Imumi, highlighted that in 2021 there was a "super increase" in children and adolescents (NNA) in the context of mobility, totaling 75,592, while in 2019 there were 53,507 and in 2020 there were 11,262, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These data, according to figures from the Migration Policy Unit, related to incidents of detention of minors channeled by the authorities.
He explained that the 2021 increase can be related to the end of the lockdown due to the health emergency and because the registration of minors no longer depends solely on the INM, but also on the national Comprehensive Family Development System (DIF), "which is required to have its own figures, including children who arrive at social assistance centers run by state and municipal DIFs, as well as those who arrive at private shelters."
He detailed that as of September 2022, a total of 38,844 children and adolescents were registered, of whom 6,711 were returned to their countries of origin, and it is known that just over 18,800 minors who were in the migration process abandoned it, without clear reasons.
