越境試みた９歳児死亡　米メキシコ国境の川で

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米メキシコ国境を流れるリオグランデ川で、米国入国を試みたメキシコ人の9歳児が死亡した。米国境警備隊が26日、発表した。同国境地帯では最近、米国への入国を試みる移民が急増している。（写真は資料写真）
　この子どもは今月２０日、グアテマラ人女性とその子どもの３歳児と一緒に、川の中流の小島で意識不明の状態で打ち上げられているのが見つかった。女性と３歳児は応急手当てにより意識を取り戻したが、９歳児は死亡が確認された。亡くなった子どもの性別は明らかにされていない。
　メキシコ国境には連日、米国を目指して数千人の移民が押し寄せており、危険な状態に陥り救出された移民はここ５か月で５００人に上る。国境警備隊幹部は２６日、移民の人数は増え続けていると説明。２５日には不法入国を試みた約６０００人の移民を拘束したと明らかにした。
　以前は米南部国境での不法入国により拘束された移民の大半が単身の成人だったが、最近はおよそ半数が家族連れや保護者のいない子どもだ。その大半はメキシコに送還されるが、家族連れの一部、また保護者のいない子どもは全員が、米国内での滞在を認められている。
　こうした子どもの収容や手続きのために使用されている税関・国境警備局（ＣＢＰ）と厚生省の施設はいずれも、許容量を大幅に超えた満員状態となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/03/29-12:09）

A nine-year-old Mexican child died while trying to cross the Rio Grande River into the United States, the Border Patrol said Friday amid a surge in migrants seeking to enter the country.
The child was found together with a Guatemalan woman and her three-year-old, all unconscious and stranded on an island in the middle of the river which demarcates the US-Mexico border in Texas on March 20.
Agents found the individuals and immediately began administering first aid while transporting the migrants to shore, the Border Patrol said in a statement that did not state the deceased child's gender.
The woman and the three-year-old regained consciousness but the nine-year-old could not be revived.
The three, who were not identified, were some of the 500 migrants rescued from dangerous situations in the past five months as thousands attempt to cross the border every day.
A senior Border Patrol official said Friday that the numbers continue to increase: some 6,000 undocumented migrants were caught on Thursday trying to enter the country.
Unlike in the past, when most of those caught crossing the southern border illegally were single adults, most recently about half have been either in family units or as unaccompanied children.
Most are being sent back into Mexico but all of the unaccompanied children and a number of the families are being allowed to stay in the United States.
Holding and processing facilities for the children at both the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are packed far beyond capacity.
On Wednesday the CBP was holding 5,156 migrant minors while HHS, which takes them from CBP and tries to place them with family members in the United States, had 11,900.
In February more than 9,000 unaccompanied children, mostly from Mexico and Central American, came in, and that number appears on track to top 14,000 this month.
We are apprehending more people than we are discharging, the official, who declined to be identified, told reporters.
On Thursday President Joe Biden defended his handling of the increase in migrants, which has become his largest political liability two months into his adminsitration, after predecessor Donald Trump sought to seal off the border.
Biden called the surge seasonal, because it was the safest time to travel, and said the children were being accepted in for humane reasons.
The Border Patrol official said they expect the surge to continue at least through April.
I fully expect the numbers to increase into the summer months, he said.