Uptick In Guatemalan Families Illegally Crossing U.S.-Mexico Border

Published June 5, 2014 at 1:12 PM EDT

U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended more children crossing the border in the first seven months of this fiscal year than in the entire previous year.
(Jude Joffe-Block/Fronteras Desk) — U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended more children crossing the border in the first seven months of this fiscal year than in the entire previous year. (Jude Joffe-Block/Fronteras Desk)

In recent months, there has been a notable change in the makeup of Central Americans illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier this week, Morning Edition reported that since October, 80,000 unaccompanied children were caught crossing the border. The volume is so great in South Texas that there aren’t enough federal agents to process the incoming migrants.

Meanwhile in Arizona, Jude Joffe-Block from Here & Now contributing station KJZZ has found a pronounced uptick in the number of women and children from Guatemala coming across the border.

This story comes to us from the Fronteras Desk, a public radio collaboration in the Southwest that focuses on the border, immigration and changing demographics.

Read more on this story via Fronteras Desk

Reporter

Jude Joffe-Block, reporter for KJZZ. She tweets @judejoffeblock.