More than a dozen unaccompanied migrant children have been reported missing in Houston, Texas, since last year, according to federal and local authorities, the Reuters news agency reported.
A Houston police detective earlier this summer alerted the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to what had happened, after discovering what appeared to be a pattern of children missing from their sponsors' homes across the country. an HHS official told the quoted media.
HHS, the government agency that oversees the custody and release of children who crossed the border alone, has found that
57 unaccompanied migrant children have gone missing in Houston since the end of 2021,
including nine children who escaped from HHS shelters, the HHS added. quoted medium.
But by August 26,
46 of them were confirmed safe.
The authorities assured that they have not found indications of sexual or labor trafficking.
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Some of the missing children who were located are now 18 or older;
some of them left their sponsors' homes to join their parents.
Harris County, where Houston is located, is the top destination for unaccompanied minor releases, with more than 6,300 released between October 2021 and June 2022.
[The number of deceased migrants in the Rio Grande rises to 9]
The official told Reuters he
had never seen this scale of unaccompanied children reported missing,
though he added that it was unclear whether the trend was new or only recently discovered by Houston police.
During a review of cases from the Houston area, HHS found that dozens of children had been delivered to similar addresses, which may be a
sign of possible trafficking,
the official and another source said.
Although the agency determined that the addresses were in apartment complexes where many migrant families live and was not a cause for concern.
Unaccompanied migrant girls (left) as they are searched alongside other asylum-seeking migrants who crossed the Rio Grande, in Roma, Texas, on May 14, 2022. ADREES LATIF / REUTERS
Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, more than 257,000 minors have been caught crossing alone, according to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Early in his presidency, there was an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors at Border Patrol stations, with reports of spending more than 72 hours there (the legal limit) in overcrowded conditions.
Since they cross the border, minors who arrive alone in the country face multiple risks.
A few days ago, the Border Patrol rescued a 4-month-old baby and a one-and-a-half-year-old boy abandoned at the border crossing in Lukeville, Arizona.
They had been abandoned by coyotes.
The youngest was found unconscious and had to receive first aid.
So far this year, Tucson has seen a 12% increase in unaccompanied children compared to 2021.
