The Children Left Behind

With increasingly tighter border security, the estimated 12 million immigrants currently living in the United States illegally face a growing problem – fragmented families. Parents who have found work in the states are often separated from their children and spouses for years.

In an effort to reunite their families, some immigrants pay thousands of dollars to have their kids smuggled into the country. That often means placing children in the hands of strangers or exposing them to risky, life-threatening conditions.

Since October of 2005, The U.S. Border Patrol has detained more than 70,000 children along the Mexican border, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. But what happens to those unaccompanied minors once they are deported back to Mexico? They are tired, hungry, dirty, scared, and most importantly, alone – some too young to even tell authorities their name.

Correspondent Laura Cavanaugh takes you to Tijuana’s Help Center for Deported Minors, a safehouse for children caught sneaking into the U.S. illegally. Since the shelter opened in 2004, it has served more than 11,400 unaccompanied minors. In addition to feeding and comforting the two vanloads of children they receive per day, the skeleton staff works diligently to track down family members. It’s a race against the clock at this “lost and found for kids.”