Report Faults Border Screeners

New York Times: Immigration authorities are failing to screen unaccompanied Mexican children who cross the border illegally to determine if they are victims of domestic abuse or human trafficking, according to a report based on two years of research by Appleseed, a nonprofit justice organization. The report examined how Mexican children have been handled by the Customs and Border Protection agency after Congress passed a law in 2008 requiring that minors be questioned to determine if they agreed to be returned to Mexico voluntarily. “On the whole, that law is not being followed,” said David Nachman, a lawyer who helped conduct the research. More than 30,000 Mexican children traveling alone have been apprehended at the border in the last two years, according to the report.